by P. T. Hylton
He stared at the plants. “These guys have it figured out. They do what they were meant to do. Then they move on, making room for the next generation.” Frank turned from the plants and looked at George. “Sorry, I won’t keep you any longer.”
George rushed off, still looking at his tablet. Frank pulled a small bean sprout that was wilting under the shadow of its larger siblings. He gently placed it in a patch of dirt that was bathed in light.
The table in CB’s kitchen was small, as was every table on New Haven. Space was a major concern, and none was wasted. Each living unit had what it needed and nothing more. The space hadn’t been designed for the three large men currently occupying it. Ambassador McCready sat bolt upright, his hands fidgeting on the table in front of him. Jaden looked at CB, his stare distant, as if his mind was off contemplating the nature of the universe, while his body took up space in the apartment. CB checked the clock again. Their fourth party was late.
“I don’t see what the point of this is,” McCready said, his voice sharp. “We should be meeting with the entire Council.”
“Let’s wait until we are all here before we start.” CB’s tone let the ambassador know that this was not just a suggestion.
A knock on the door ended the silence. CB let General Craig into the apartment, and he took the final seat at the table. CB got four glasses from the kitchen and poured them each a beer.
“I don’t actually consume food and drink.” Jaden said as he looked at the glass.
CB chuckled. “I know, I just thought it would be weird if you didn’t have something in front of you.”
“In that case, I thank you.” Jaden raised his beer. Craig and McCready exchanged a frustrated glance but picked up their glasses in honor of tradition.
After the glasses clinked and three of them had a sip, Craig spoke. “Okay, CB, why are we here?”
“Simply put, we’re here because I am tired of bullshit. Political machinations aren’t going to help anyone. I have an important matter to discuss, and I think the four of us sitting around this table can settle this much more quickly than the Council could.”
McCready looked annoyed. “What ‘matter’ are we talking about?”
CB stared at him coolly. “You stole information about the virus and sent it to Agartha. This was after the Council voted against sharing the information.”
McCready crossed his arms and leaned back. “What makes you think I sent information to Agartha?”
“Probably because you did it,” Jaden said. “I’m with CB. I prefer the no-bullshit approach. Politics may be a necessary process for civilization, but in this room, at this moment, I think we can be honest with one another.”
“Did you tell him to do it?” General Craig asked Jaden.
“No,” Jaden said, his eyes still fixed on McCready. “He acted without my knowledge, but if he’d asked, I would have supported his decision. Finding a way to save my fellow vampires in Agartha is rather important to me. I had hoped that you would help us with that.”
“Then you should have come to the Council and stated your case,” General Craig growled.
Jaden thought for a moment, then nodded. “You’re right. I should have. Now, I ask for your forgiveness on behalf of the ambassador. Punish him if you must, but he did what he did to save the lives of good soldiers.” Jaden’s tone was steady and calm.
“I understand why you did it,” CB said. “I’ve been known to act first and ask forgiveness later.” CB turned to Craig as he continued. “We can hold hearings and throw the ambassador in the brig for this, but there’s no putting the genie back in the bottle. They were trying to save their people. If we are so cruel that we will not give them a chance, are we still the good guys?”
“You know this isn’t that simple,” Craig replied. “There is an answer to the Feral infestation. That’s more important than anyone in this room. It is more important than a few dozen vampires. This is the existence of our species that we’re talking about. I don’t want the vampires of Agartha to die, but a cure might stop the virus. That may not be the intent, but I don’t think it is a risk we can take.”
CB took a long drink of his beer. He looked at Jaden, “We understand why McCready stole the information. Now, I need to know if you understand why we wouldn’t share. I brought you here to this table so that you can see that there are no villains in this room. We’re all trying to figure it out. The world is just a complicated mess.”
“I do wish you would help us save the vampires of Agartha, but I also understand why you will not.” Jaden picked up his full glass of beer and balanced it on the tip of one long finger. He held it perfectly still. “It is nice when things are calm for a moment, even when we know disruption can come at any time. I want the peace and cooperation of our cities to continue. In the world that was, you would have been a great asset, CB.”
McCready unfolded his arms and took a drink. “So, that’s it? We get to keep working on a way to save the vampires of Agartha, but you won’t help us with it?”
All eyes were on Craig. “I’ll speak with the rest of the Council tomorrow. Only a few people are aware you sent the data. We will just tell them that there was a miscommunication and you had our permission to share it with Agartha.”
“There’s the bullshit the world needs to keep spinning,” CB said. “Now that we have that matter taken care of, let’s see if we can come up with any ideas to stop this new threat.”
26
Alex gazed out of the window as they approached London. The remains of the city’s landmarks were deteriorated, but still visible on the skyline.
“I still don’t understand why we can’t just track the away ship,” Ed said. “You telling me we never thought of putting in some device, so we could find it if the GMT got killed, or something?”
“Maryana disabled the tracker, apparently,” Alex said. “I talked to Jessica yesterday. She’s working on a way to find it. New Haven’s radar can detect the ship, but only if it’s flying, and only if it’s in range. If it’s on the ground when we fly over, it’s just another hunk of metal.”
“Great,” Ed said, glumly. “So, if she’s smart enough to move at night, she’s invisible to us.”
“She’s smart enough,” Jaden confirmed.
“Look, we’re not giving up,” Alex said. “One thing at a time. Let’s focus on the task at hand and then worry about what comes next.”
The task at hand was to investigate how well the virus had taken effect after they’d dropped it on London. It had been about four days. Judging by how things had progressed in Puerto Rico and Babruysk, it should have taken out most of the vampires in the city already. Their secondary mission was to see if any had survived and been changed in the way that Jaden and Owl had. Jaden said he’d destroyed the nest of Maryana-worshiping vampires in the city long ago, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t created another prior to the Infestation.
“All righty,” Owl said, her voice coming through their earpieces, “we are now approaching London. There are a pretty overwhelming number of facts about London in our records, so I decided to keep my facts plague-based for this trip.”
“That’s a little dark,” Chuck said.
“Well, I am a creature of the undead, after all. The London Underground was a public transportation system of subterranean trains. It first went into use in 1890, and at its peak, it carried up to five million passengers a day.”
“I thought these facts were going to be plague-based,” Ed said.
“One of the stations, Aldgate Station, is built on top of a plague pit where over a thousand people were buried in 1665.”
“There it is,” Alex said.
“That was just a fraction of the deaths during the Great Plague. In total, it’s believed over a quarter of the city’s population died during that plague.”
“It’s true,” Jaden agreed. “I cleared out of the city toward the beginning of the plague, but I saw enough to know it was a very terrible time.”
They all looked at him for a long moment.
“You know,” Owl said, “spouting this information is way less fun when a guy who was actually there can fact-check you.”
“Please, continue,” Jaden said. “Brings back memories.”
There was a long pause. “Nah, actually, I’m good.”
Alex leaned forward in her seat. “Okay, then I’ll go. Remember why we’re here. First priority, scout. Second priority,” she said, holding up a blood packet, “draw out any remaining London residents. I’d like to face a couple more of these… these…”
“They call us the Twisted,” Jaden said. “Not to our faces, but I’ve got vampire hearing, and all.”
Alex’s face reddened. “Well, just because some of the New Haven residents call you that, doesn’t mean we have to. We can come up with something else.”
Jaden shrugged. “It’s as good a name as any.”
“Okay… Then, let’s see what we can do to draw out any Twisted hiding in London.”
Owl set them down in a neighborhood near the center of the city. Alex noticed two tall buildings on either side of the relatively narrow street.
“We’ll set up here.” She turned to Jaden. “If we open the blood packets, it’ll draw them, right?”
Jaden nodded. “We’re dealing with intelligent creatures, not Feral. That said, they haven’t eaten in a century and a half. They won’t be able to resist the smell, and they should be able to detect it from almost anywhere in the city.”
“Good,” Alex said. She assigned Ed and Felix to act as snipers on top of the building on the north side of the street, with Jaden going along to watch their backs in case any of the Twisted got too close. Alex, Chuck, and Owl would take the building on the other side of the street.
Once they were all situated and ready, Alex carefully pierced a hole in the blood packet with the tip of her knife and tossed it off the edge of the building. It landed on the street thirty stories below and splattered.
She took a deep breath. “Now, we wait.”
After ten minutes of silent waiting, Jaden spoke in their earpieces. “I feel them approaching. A small number. Five to ten.”
“Roger that. Snipers, stay ready.” Alex didn’t want to quibble at this amazing bit of intel, but there was a very large difference between facing five of the Twisted creatures and facing ten of them.
The broken, ancient streets below were silent but for a slight wind that rustled through the trees that had grown up here and there. Two minutes later, Ed spoke into his radio. “I got one, Captain. Coming from the west.”
“Take him,” Alex answered. She spotted the creature staying close to a building, as it slowly made its way toward the blood in the street.
Ed fired, and his shot was true. The back of the creature’s head exploded, and it flew backward, landing on the pavement. It didn’t move again.
“Guess they know we’re here,” Alex said. “Let’s see what they do next.”
They watched and waited for almost fifteen more minutes with no movement. It was strange, facing these intelligent creatures. Ferals would have been swarming them by now. Alex still believed that her plan would work, especially if there were only a handful of the Twisted in London. But if they ever faced a larger collection of Twisted, they’d have to change their way of thinking. It would be more like battling a human army that just happened to be incredibly strong and fast. The GMT’s strategies would have to evolve, just as the Twisted had.
“There,” Owl said, suddenly, pointing toward the ground near the other building.
It took Alex a moment before she spotted them: three Twisted, creeping toward the door on the east side of the building. She turned to Owl and Chuck. “I got the one in the lead. Owl, take the one in the middle. Chuck, the last one’s yours. On my mark. Three, two, one, fire!”
The three of them each squeezed off a round at the same moment, and two of the three creatures fell.
“Shit,” Owl muttered. “Sorry, I’m still getting used to these giant hands. Screwed up my aim.”
“I got you, girl,” Chuck said, as he took aim. He fired, and the third creature fell.
“Nice shooting,” Alex said. She touched her radio. “How we doing, Jaden? Can you tell if there are more of them?”
Before Jaden could respond, the sound of breaking glass filled the air. Alex’s eyes scanned the surrounding buildings, but she couldn’t locate the source of the noise.
“They’re inside our building,” Jaden said. “They broke through on the far side.”
“Smart,” Alex said. They’d put the building between them and their enemies. More evidence that they weren’t dealing with Ferals, anymore.
“We’ll have to wait until they get to the roof and take them out,” Jaden said.
“There!” Owl shouted. “I just saw one run past a window on the fifth floor.”
Alex scanned the windows with her scope, but she saw nothing. “I don’t see it.”
“Sixth floor, now.” Something like a snarl escaped Owl’s throat. “Never mind. I got it.”
With that, she took off running toward the edge of the building and leapt into the air.
“What the hell?” Chuck shouted.
Owl’s body stretched out, her claw-like hands in front of her, as she soared through the air in a descending arc. She smashed into the other building at the eighth floor. For a moment, Alex thought she was going to bounce off and careen to the pavement below, but she somehow managed to cling to the wall. Then she drew back her fist and punched the window, shattering the glass. She disappeared through the hole, and, for a moment, all was silent.
Chuck turned to Alex. “I guess it’s time to admit our girl’s all grown up.”
A moment later, a window on the twelfth floor shattered, and two bodies came tumbling out. One—a male—was falling backwards. The other—this one a female—was on top, an animalistic snarl on her face, as she viciously slashed at the other creature with her claws. The female looked so fierce that it took Alex a moment to realize it was Owl.
“Grown up into what?” Alex asked.
The two of them slammed into the pavement, and the Twisted male let out a weak moan. Owl reared back her head, brought it down, and sank her teeth into the other creature’s neck, tearing out his throat. She stood up and staggered for a moment. Who— or what—was she?.
Alex tore her eyes away from the shocking scene below and looked at the other building just in time to see two Twisted bursting through the door and onto the roof. Ed and Felix were ready and began firing immediately. One of the Twisted fell, but the other kept charging toward them, until Jaden’s sword severed its head from its body.
They waited another two hours, but no more of the Twisted showed up in the London streets.
Finally, Jaden said, “I’m not sensing anything else. I don’t think there are any more of them here. I say we call it.”
“Agreed,” Alex said. “Let’s reconvene at the ship.”
As they made their way down through the building, Alex watched Owl. She hadn’t said a word since she’d killed the Twisted, and she had a distant look in her eyes.
“Hey,” Alex said, touching her arm. “You okay?”
Owl flinched at her friend’s touch. “Yeah. I’m… I’m fine. Let’s just get out of here.”
Alex stopped, letting Owl walk ahead, and she felt a twinge of worry at her friend’s condition. They’d killed seven Twisted, and yet, somehow, the victory felt hollow.
27
Maryana stopped at the bank of the Hudson river. The full moon’s light reflected off the water, casting the city in a yellow glow. A haze hung over the remains of the buildings. Some of the once-great city’s skyscrapers still stood tall, but others were missing large sections. Piles of rubble were all that remained of some.
“Even after the world ends, New York is still covered in smog. What a shit hole.” Maryana picked up a rock and threw it across the river.
Stephen sniffed the air a
nd started to cough. “Oh man, that is rank. Do we have to go in there?”
“Don’t be an idiot. This is already taking too long. The longer it takes to find their city, the longer we go without a new supply of blood. The faster we can get our numbers up, the better.”
Stephen looked back at the crowd behind them. There were almost seventy of them already. “So far, so good. How many do you think we will need to take out Jaden’s city?”
“Do you even need to ask? How many vampires does he have?”
“Right, one hundred. So that’s what we need.”
“Sure, if we want a fair fight. I much prefer to stack the odds in our favor. Five hundred sounds like it should do the trick. We should be able to find that many in the United States, if we hit most of the major cities. We will find most on the coasts, if they stayed put.” Maryana looked at the haze floating over the city. “At least the virus beat us here. It’s fun watching the Ferals die, but I hate waiting.”
“How many do you think it took to make that much smoke? A million? Two?”
“I’m not sure. I wish we would have gotten here for the sunrise this morning. It would have been magnificent to see all of their bodies burning in the streets. I bet a lot of them were still alive when the sun came up. Imagine how they screeched and ran around as they burned.” A small frown formed on Maryana’s misshapen mouth as she realized she wouldn’t get to see the destruction unleashed by the virus as it happened.
“That would have been a sight,” Stephen agreed. “I just hope the stench of burnt Ferals doesn’t stay in our clothes.
The small army swam across the river into the ruins of New York City. Piles of ash littered the streets. Maryana occasionally kicked at the piles, making puffs of ash fly into the air as she passed. Through the windows of the buildings lining the streets, they could see the remains of hundreds of Ferals. The virus had done its work, and they lay in drying pools of their own blood.
