by Maxey, Phil
Anna looked desperately to Joel. “She has dementia…”
Choices ran through Joel’s mind, each one sending him deeper into a pit of numbness. He looked at Marina and Anna. “She’s gone. We’re leaving.” They both hesitated.
“Maybe we should send out a search party? She can’t—” Anna stopped on seeing Joel’s expression. She looked away from the man and walked to the pickup. Marina did the same, shaking her head as she left.
The man looked out into the darkness, then back to Joel, desperation in his red eyes. “Please? I’m not like you, I can’t move quickly and see in the darkness, can’t you go look again?”
Emotion threatened to break through Joel’s resolute exterior. He looked at the man directly. “Stay or leave with us now. What’s it going to be?”
The man looked at the vehicles whose engines were firing up, then took a step backward towards the diner.
Joel turned away. “Alright then.”
*****
The city of Cedar Rapids with its concrete towers came and went in the darkness. Joel felt the thousands of vamps roaming the streets, and how the convoy drew their attention, but the vehicles were gone before the night creatures could react. Next, they were amongst hills, forests, and the Iowa River which crept close to the highway then moved away. The silvery waters looked cold and bleak, reflecting what little moonlight was able to creep through the thick clouds.
Anna had spoken only a few words to the man next to her, confirming the route they were on. When Joel reappeared from visiting the trailer park he was different. He had witnessed something which imprisoned his thoughts. She presumed it had something to do with the man’s wife but couldn’t understand why Joel hadn’t mentioned anything if he had seen a body amongst the motorhomes. Either way, the figure of the man watching the convoy drive away still haunted her.
Joel watched the vehicle in front, slowing and accelerating when needed. Flickers of the scene from inside the motorhome kept blending with the red hue from the rear lights, and he kept blinking to wash them away. As an FBI operator he had had the misfortune to enter crime scenes similar, but for some reason, despite the horror the Scourge brought, he thought that type of killing was a thing of the past. There was something distinctly human about it. The vamps usually did not kill out of spite or some inner turmoil, they killed because of the hunger which drove them to feed. The slaughter of the man’s wife was born from insanity. He was even starting to doubt it was a hybrid or any other Alkron. The human faces of those in the convoy scrolled through his mind, each one being crossed off or left on an imaginary psycho list.
“Joel? Over,” said Carla.
Her voice jolted him out of his thoughts. “I’m here. Over.”
“It will start getting lighter soon. We might want to think about getting off the highway. Over.”
“Agreed. We should take the next exit, but we still need to avoid any major cities. Over.”
Carla agreed.
As the sun breached the horizon, they headed west then south again, passing over the Mississippi and a few smaller rivers then entering Illinois. Yellow and beige fields of unharvested crops bordered them on both sides.
“I guess we don’t need the food anymore… just blood,” said Kizzy, looking at the fields passing by.
In her mind, Amos saw what she was imagining, which was fields of people, standing like mannequins with tubes removing their blood into ditches.
“No food, no humans, no blood,” grumbled Dalton.
“I… like… food,” said David, sitting next to Kizzy. His voice trembling.
She smacked him on the leg, making him wince. “Oh, we’ll make sure there’s food for all you humans! I’m not going to give up on hamburgers!” Her eyes then trailed off, and she sighed. “And fries… with a good shake… although that might need to have blood in it.”
Amos smiled on hearing the man in the backseat swallow uncomfortably.
Outside the sky was gray and monotone as if the day regretted coming into being.
Farmers’ fields and small homes perched in the middle of them flowed by as the hours did the same, until the sun was at its fall zenith hidden behind a blanket of cloud.
Carla informed the convoy to slow down and stop, and the twelve vehicles sat on a fractured road alongside some silver grain silos and a rectangular packing plant.
“The camp should be a few miles north of here. Over,” said Carla. “I suggest we leave the vehicles here and my squad does some recon. Over.”
Joel got out of the pickup, Anna did the same.
“You should stay here. Might be a good idea to have a quick check on the humans’ condition…” he said to her. She nodded and walked to the truck behind.
As Joel approached Carla’s vehicle at the head of the convoy, she and her soldiers were already checking their weapons. “I’m coming with you,” he said.
“Honestly, I’d prefer if you stayed here if anything goes wrong.”
“I think you can handle yourselves.”
She smiled. “I meant if anything goes wrong here.”
He sighed, then nodded. “You should take a hybrid with you…”
A noise made them both look back. Evan and Geri were walking towards them, the latter with her rifle.
“Hey, what’s with the hybrid love and the wolf hate?” said Geri.
Joel noticed Evan looked less than his usual expressive self. “Everything okay?”
“I’m fine. Just need to get some air.” Evan looked at Carla. “You got another weapon I can use?”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Carla and the others jogged past mist-covered fields full of damp and rotting reeds of corn. Tens of acres spilled out in all directions, only broken up by patches of overgrown grass, single-lane roads, and the occasional white farmhouse. The sky above hadn’t changed from its uniform gray all day. The sun, despite mostly being overhead, was providing scant light making it feel a lot later than it was.
As they approached the road which headed north towards where the camp should have been, they stepped over a fence and into a field of weeds and mud. They made sure to keep trees, and then a group of rusting farm buildings between them and any possible view from the north.
Cutting across a large field they ran into the cover of a thin strip of forest, on the other side more fields ran up a slight incline to a bank which blocked any view of the small town on the other side.
Carla crouched at the tree line, the others did the same.
“Not much cover out there if they have spotters on that hilltop,” said Keller to Carla.
Bishop scanned the ridge with binoculars. “I’m not seeing any movement.”
“I’ll go,” said Evan. “I can cover the distance to the hilltop in maybe eight seconds. If I’m spotted, they will just think it’s a stray vamp and I’ll lead them away.”
Carla looked at the young man. She had watched him tear through the vamps a few nights earlier. The kid was a fighter.
She nodded and Evan’s eyes turned black, and he burst out of the undergrowth, across the faded grass and mud, ripping through the dirt.
Bishop tracked him with the eyepieces. “Okay, he’s approaching the top… he’s there. He’s looking into the dip on the other side… he’s waving us forward.”
“Let’s go,” said Carla.
The group quickly got to their feet and jogged forward roughly following the route Evan had just taken.
When they got to the top, they crouched once again. In front of them were more trees, but they were high enough to see over them and to the roads and buildings of the town a few miles further north. A small fence, seven feet high, was just visible through the forest which cut across the main road which led into town.
“I’m not seeing anyone on the streets,” said Bishop, looking again with her binoculars. “Not seeing any vamps too, so I guess that’s…”
“What is it?” said Carla.
“A black Humvee moving down the main street—” Bishop watc
hed as the vehicle stopped outside a brick built store. Some black uniformed soldiers jumped out, as well as an older female soldier who appeared to be directing proceedings. The soldiers ran into the store.
“What’s happening?” said Carla, wishing she either had her own pair of binoculars or the hybrids’ vision.
“There’s military down there… but… not ours, I think they’re corporation—”
“Damn it,” said Carla. Ripples of concern moved through those around her. “We’re too late.”
Bishop watched as a man and woman were dragged from the store and thrown to the ground. On their knees, they both appeared to plead with the older woman who looked at them dispassionately, then stepped away nodding to the nearest soldier who put bullets in both of their heads. Bishop pulled the binoculars from her eyes.
“So what do we do?” said Keller. “We taking this place back from the corporation? Or what?”
Carla took the binoculars from Bishop and looked for herself. She caught the Humvee driving away, losing it amongst the town's buildings, but then picking it up again as it drove onto what looked like a sports field. She sighed. The area contained columns of soldiers, all clad in black uniforms, and two troop-carrying helicopters. There were also more Humvees, some with turrets.
She handed the eyepieces back to Bishop, crouching once again, and moving back the way they had just come. “We’re leaving.”
Keller, Bishop, and some of the others hesitated to move.
“Is there nothing we can do for these people?” said Evan.
“The town already belongs to the corporation. If we leave now, we might make it to the next camp before nightfall and let them know what’s coming for them.” Carla broke into a jog down the slope, then held her radio to her mouth.
Geri and Evan exchanged a look, then with the others got to their feet.
*****
Copeland rushed through the dimly lit corridors excited, or as close to that emotion that he came to these days. He had received a secret encrypted message from Adrian. One of the three tablets had been recovered and was waiting for him at an undisclosed location within the ruins of San Jose. It was Copeland’s idea of the meeting spot. He wanted it to be away from the series of buildings which made up the corporation’s campus, out of the view of any unwanted prying eyes.
He had been in the ‘war room’ as it had come to be known when he received the message. Iona had secured one of the last human holdouts, and plans were being made to take the next, although that one would require more Alkrons, more vamps and generally more of everything.
But the planning for that would have to be delayed. A bigger prize was almost in his grasp and the kings were asleep. The perfect time to slip out.
As he stepped into the elevator to his apartment he ran through his mind how best to use the ancient device. Just keeping it from Rynon and the others was not enough. He needed to know how to activate it. Probing the minds of vamps that were at the mountain base told him that Hybrid blood could wield its power. There were already thirteen Alkron type forty-sevens amongst those Alkrons that the corporation had discovered on its sweep across the country. Any one of them would suffice. Once the tablet was activated he would have real power. The kings would see him as their equal, finally.
He stepped out of the elevator, raced across his darkened apartment, bracing himself for the burning sensation that would engulf his body once he moved outside. The door to the balcony slid back and the sun’s rays burst from the gap. He winced on feeling the heat but took the pain and, without further pause, leaped over the barrier and into the air, his wings immediately forming from his back, supporting his weight on the wind currents.
Empty streets covered in the stains of the dead and memories of their former lives slid by beneath, a city of the Scourge. It was clear of human presence. Those that were left spent their lives thirsting for blood.
As he soared past tall buildings and roofs with human-made signs that asked for help that never came, he spied the area he had marked out for the meeting. Claymore’s University campus.
He beat his powerful wings to slow his descent and landed on a concrete path which was already being lost to weeds. Surrounding it was a sea of grass. Apart from nature threatening to reclaim the area, the place looked the same from when he was there almost fifteen years earlier. His story was one that had been repeated many times before and since. While working on his MBA, he happened upon a biotech startup that looked more attractive than staying up until the early hours, eating noodles and trying to understand Keynesian economics. So he dropped out, not lured by the money for his parents were already funding his lifestyle, but by the desire to learn in the real world. He wanted to know what happens when the rubber hits the road.
The fall air was cool, but he still felt as if he was under a tropical sun, and he jogged along the pathway wanting to be inside away from the oppressive heat. He soon spotted the entrance and grabbed at the silver handle, pulling the door open and moving into shadow.
He vaguely remembered the hallways which came next.
Library… tech labs… dinner hall…
The door to the corridor which led to the gym he remembered clearly from his time there before. He was never much for sports, despite his previous height of six-foot-two, and often got chided for not wanting to take part.
As he looked at the glass-paneled door, memories of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ came back to him. Those were the sounds he would hear when the Claymore tigers were playing at home.
He pulled the door open and walked forward, stepping over pieces of paper which either belonged to students or the university staff. He didn’t bother to look down to know which.
He finally got to the double doors of the sports arena, his adrenaline pumping through his leathery body.
Adrian was standing in the center of the basketball court, a small black suitcase in his hand.
He looked fidgety to Copeland, but then, he always looked that way in his boss’s presence.
Copeland strode forward. Power, the like of which even he had not known before would soon be his.
“Give it to me…” he said, standing just a few feet from his head of science.
Adrian obliged, offering up the prize.
Copeland took the suitcase, looking at its glossy exterior, savoring the moment. He then flicked the two latches to one side and pulled the lid open.
The suitcase was empty.
Confusion, not anger swept through Copeland’s mind. He looked back at Adrian. “What is the meaning of this?”
Adrian started stepping backward. “I… I’m—”
Anger was now building inside the taller creature. “Where is it!”
“Not here, unfortunately for you, Drak.” Rynon was sitting in one of the high-up rows of plastic seats.
Copeland wheeled around, facing the noble looking hybrid who was looking down at him. Instinctively, he looked back at the two doors that he had just moved through. He could see two large Alkrons, former members of his own elite guard standing outside.
Rynon was now walking slowly down the steps to the court. “The Draks in my time knew their place, which was primarily to control the less intelligent of our brethren and amusingly to scare the humans. There is something about your bony exterior and wings which upsets them.”
Copeland heard a noise behind him. The two other kings were also amongst the seats, walking down the steps.
“But once in a while, a Drak would get these strange ideas in its head. That they could lead themselves!”
Copeland looked upwards at the small rectangular windows which ringed the walls.
Too small.
His wings spread out from his back, and he whirled around trying to see an opportunity to get away.
“You thought you could keep the tablets from us?” said Rynon, who with his brothers was now at the edge of the court.
“I wanted you to see I was your equal!” shouted Copeland.
The king's laughter ec
hoed around the empty hall.
Amongst the noise, the double doors opened once again, and in poured muscular beings covered in body armor. Two of which carried heavy chains.
Rynon walked forward towards Copeland, who was desperately trying to find an exit, his body and head flicking from one side to the other. The king stopped a few yards from the larger beast.
“Get on your knees, Drak.”
Copeland spun around to face the king, his form towering over him. The Alkrons of the guard were now circling around, their modern weapons pointed towards Copeland. A brief spark of defense flared in Copeland’s eyes, then faded.
He fell to his knees as his wings retracted.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Pleasant looking farmhouses almost lost amongst the overflowing fields passed by the convoy on their passage south. The decision was made from the outset to use the most direct route even if that meant having to travel along the more conspicuous roads.
They moved through a junction, with a row of early twentieth-century wooden homes to its right. As each structure passed by Joel strained his senses to pick up any sign of human habitation, but instead, just the buzzing produced by the fractured minds of vamps came back to him. He shook his head trying to loosen their grip.
“Everything okay?” said Anna, sitting to his right.
“Each town we move through I listen out for any signs that humans are still living there. Maybe we can help people, bring some with us… but—”
“There aren’t any,” said Shannon behind them.
“Plenty of vamps though,” said Geri. “I can smell them.” The older woman looked at the young girl next to her. “Miracle you haven’t been infected.”
Shannon’s gaze remained fixed on the stores and motels of the town they were passing through. “Maybe I should be…”
“Don’t think that way,” said Anna.
Shannon looked in her direction. “Well, why not? We’re traveling with a shit load of hybrids. They all can run real fast and heal, they’re like superheroes or something!”
