by P. T. Hylton
She gave a fleeting thought to CB on the other side of the hallway, back to back with Wesley, who’d been a member of the team for about twenty minutes. The thought made her shudder, and she momentarily wished she’d switched places with CB when she had the chance. Not that he would have let her. He’d promoted Wesley to the team, so he’d insist on paying the consequences if the guy couldn’t handle it.
She pushed the thought away. It was time to focus.
“Drew, my good man, how do you intend to deal with the approaching horde of undead monsters?”
The ground was shaking now. The vampires were almost upon them.
“Ah, I’m glad you asked, dear lady.” He spoke in the mock-careful cadence of the Hub elite. “I thought I’d begin the evening’s festivities with a silver shrapnel grenade tossed into their midst as they approach. Then I’ll move on to a generous portion of robust shotgun shells. Should our guests still have an appetite after that, I shall finish with my pistol. Yourself?”
She started to answer that she too would begin with some light grenade work, but before she could, the vampires rounded the corner thirty feet ahead.
“Here we go!” Drew yelled.
Alex pulled the pin on her grenade and hurled it as far as she could down the corridor. As it reached the vampires, a hand shot up and snatched it from the air.
For a terrible moment, Alex thought it might throw the grenade back at her. Instead, the creature studied the strange object in its hand. It exploded, and the three closest vampires fell to the ground. Five others moaned in pain as silver shrapnel dug into their leathery hides. It didn’t stop them from continuing to charge.
By then, Alex had her pistol ready. Most of them were running on all fours, their hearts blocked from her view, so she was forced to go for head shots. It was a lower-percentage target, and she missed twice as many as she hit. Still, she dropped a good number of them, and their companions were forced to slow down and scurry over the fallen bodies, which gave her a bit more time to aim at her next attacker.
Drew’s shotgun fired blast after blast behind her. Neither of them spoke. They were professionals doing their job. The time for wisecracks had ended the moment the first vampire rounded the corner.
She tried to count how many were left in the hallway. She’d taken out eight, so far. She thought there were ten more, but the way they moved and wriggled over each other made it difficult to keep an accurate count.
She took down two more, but they were almost to her now. She grimaced, shifted the gun to her left hand, and used the right one to draw her sword.
There were, what, eight left rushing toward her? This was a narrow hallway; those things operated best in open spaces, where their wild, frantic movements were an asset rather than a liability. In this hallway, the way they leaped around, they could only fit two at a time.
Alex liked her odds.
She raised her sword and went to work.
CB was standing in the south hallway, his back nearly touching Wesley’s when he heard a grenade go off, quickly followed by another. The vampires on the other side were a bit quicker, apparently. Or was this strategy? An attempt to drive the humans toward this hallway, where an even larger horde would be waiting, maybe?
He turned his head and spoke over his shoulder. “Lob your grenade at them when they round the corner, then start firing. You’ve got an automatic weapon there, and enough ammo to kill every vampire between here and Washington D.C. Don’t be stingy with it.”
“Yes, sir.” There was a shake in the kid’s voice. Not that CB blamed him. This was one hell of a first mission. Still, if either of them was going to survive this, Wesley needed to get past the nerves. No way to tell if that was going to happen until the shooting started.
“Hey, Wesley, you were born to do this. I knew it the moment I saw you work out with the team for the first time. Do what you were brought here to do.”
“Yes, sir.” His voice was more confident this time.
CB wasn’t normally one to blow smoke, but he wasn’t above it, from time to time. Especially when his life was on the line. The roar of the approaching vampires was almost upon them now. It was startling how quickly it had gone from a distant sound to right around the corner. “Here we go, Wesley.”
CB threw his grenade as soon as he saw the first vampire. It was coming too fast to stop even if it had the smarts to realize what had just been thrown at it. Ten other vampires followed close on the first one’s heels, and the grenade exploded at the perfect moment, right in the middle of all of them. Four of them were killed on impact, but the other six kept coming, pushed by the others following close behind.
A quick count told him sixteen vampires remained upright at his end of the hallway. This was more than he’d expected. He raised his pistols and shot the closest vampire, then started working his way back.
He knew from the sound of Wesley’s gun he was in trouble. He was shooting in short controlled bursts, which was fine for the firing range, but he had a horde of vampires charging him. He should have been laying on the trigger, sweeping the weapon back and forth for maximum damage to every creature in that hallway.
CB silently cursed himself. He never should have put the kid in this position the first time out. As he fired with his right hand, he touched the radio on his chest with his left. “Firefly, get out here. We need help.”
The respond was an immediate, “Yes, sir!”
CB had his vampires momentarily under control, their way blocked by the bodies of their fallen brethren. It would only slow them for a moment, but CB risked a look over his shoulder.
Shit.
It was worse than he’d imagined. Twenty vampires filled the hallway, and the first two were less than ten feet away. Many of them had ugly wounds in their legs, arms, and stomachs, but none of the injuries appeared to be fatal to the vampire biology. How had the kid failed to take out a single vampire?
CB pulled another grenade off his vest and tossed it down his side of the hallway—hopefully, that would take out another one or two—and then turned to help Wesley. He dropped the closest two in five seconds.
Firefly jumped through the doorway and paused a fraction of a second—clearly shocked at the situation—then began firing on the vampires in front of Wesley.
It wasn’t going to be enough. There were too many vampires, and they were too close. CB, Wesley, and Firefly were going to have to fall back.
CB opened his mouth to give the order, but something grabbed him from behind and slammed him against the wall. His right arm was pinned awkwardly behind him, and he felt it snap as he hit the wall. He let out a soft groan but rolled quickly, raising the pistol in his left hand and pointing it at the vampire who’d somehow caught him off guard.
The vampire’s hand snaked out almost too quickly for CB’s eyes to follow and smacked the gun out of his hand. The creature lunged at him, leading with his teeth. CB went for his knife, but he knew there was no way he’d get to it in time. The vampire had him.
Suddenly, a flash of light seemed to slice through the creature’s neck. Its head fell from its shoulders and landed on the floor with a wet thud.
Alex stared down at him, her sword still held high. Drew was close behind her. He ran into the hallway and went to work with his shotgun.
Alex spun, turning her back to CB, protecting him with her body. She moved like a dervish, slicing through any vampire that foolishly wandered within six feet of her. They had claws and teeth, but her blade was sharper.
Drew focused on the vampires just outside of Alex’s range, while Firefly turned his attention to the creatures a bit further down the hall. Firefly barked orders at Wesley, telling him which vampires to shoot.
In another two minutes, it was over. The team stood panting in the hallway, checking themselves and each other for injury.
Alex turned toward CB. “You okay, Captain?”
He struggled to his feet. “It’s just my arm. You didn’t have to coddle me.”
&nbs
p; Alex grinned at him. “You’re welcome.”
“Didn’t you two have enough vampires on your side?”
“We had a fair number,” Drew said. “I guess we killed them too quickly.”
“Thank God for that,” Wesley muttered.
Drew clapped him on the shoulder. “I consider saving your ass to be a duty and an honor, Wes. One I presume I’ll have the pleasure of repeating many times in the coming months.”
Owl appeared in the doorway. She raised an eyebrow as she gazed at the team, covered in sweat and black, inky blood, vampire corpses strewn across the floor around them. “Huh.” She shrugged and held up the tablet. “I got the information. Who wants to go home?”
36
As soon as the team landed in the hangar, Alex stormed up to the cockpit. Owl’s eyes widened at the intrusion. Alex had only been in the cockpit once before, on her initial tour of the ship two years ago, and she’d never been in it on a mission.
“What’s up?” Owl asked.
Alex nodded toward Owl’s pack on the floor next to her, which she knew held the tablet with the information they’d just mined from NSA headquarters. “We can’t be waiting for fifteen minutes like we usually do while medical takes their sweet time getting around to checking us. Bowen needs that tablet, and every moment counts. Not only that, we got CB in the back, his arm as crooked as a dirty politician. The thing’s broken in at least two places.”
“Yeah, I radioed ahead that we had an injury. Look, I’m sure they’re getting things set up as fast as they can.”
Alex glared at her.
“What?” Owl said. “You want me to yell at them? I have to work with these people every day.”
“I don’t.” Alex reached across Owl before the pilot could object and grabbed the radio off the control panel. She held it up to her mouth. “Hello, this is Lieutenant Alexandria Goddard. Who am I speaking with, please?”
“This is Sergeant Russell, ma’am. Hang tight. We’re getting to you as fast as we can.”
“Is that so? Who’s in charge there, Sergeant?”
“I am, ma’am. We’ve met like five times. I’ve given briefings to your—”
“Excellent. I just wanted to make sure I knew where the buck stopped. For when I give my report to the Council. We have information vital to the safety of New Haven aboard, and every moment is crucial.”
“I understand, ma’am. That’s why we’re—”
“Not only that, but we’ve got a hero aboard, gritting his teeth while he clutches his broken arm. I don’t know about you, Sergeant, but when I stand before the statue of this man that they will inevitably erect outside the hangar one day, I don’t want to be thinking about how I made him wait fifteen minutes longer than was necessary in his hour of goddamn need.”
“Ma’am, if you’d just—”
“And I’ll tell you something, Sergeant Russell. If you keep us waiting for another five minutes while you twiddle your thumbs and tell dick jokes, the Council will be the least of your problems. I’ll knock you on your ass so hard, you’ll sink right on down to the surface. Do I make myself clear, Sergeant Russell?”
There was the briefest of pauses. “Yes, ma’am. Sending the medical team to retrieve the information and the injured soldier immediately, ma’am.”
“I’m counting the seconds.” She put the radio down and winked at Owl.
Owl laughed at shook her head. “You’re going to make a hellacious commanding officer someday.”
By the time they got back to the passenger hold, the cargo door was opening, and medical techs in hazmat suits were climbing aboard.
“Whoa, record time!” Drew said.
Alex nodded to CB. “You hanging in there, sir?”
“I told you, it’s just my arm,” he snarled. “Don’t be such a mother hen.”
The first medical tech reached him and asked to see the arm.
CB brushed him off. “Maybe we can do this inside?” He stood up and marched off the ship, and the confused tech followed after him.
Shirley came and got Alex a few minutes later.
Alex went through the decontamination process in near silence.
When they were nearly finished, Shirley said, “You don’t have any jokes today. You feeling all right?”
“Wow, Shirley,” she said with a smile, “I think that’s the first time you’ve ever asked me a question that wasn’t strictly mission-related.”
“It’s the first time I’ve had to. Normally, you won’t shut up.”
Shirley had a point. For some reason, Alex didn’t feel all that much like talking. How many vampires had she killed in those hallways? She should know the answer to that question. CB would. But they’d all been people once, many of them probably government servants like her. Maybe they’d been infected at work and never left, or maybe they’d gotten bit elsewhere and returned to take out vengeance on their coworkers. Either way, they didn’t deserve to go out like that, chopped down by some soldier after one hundred and fifty years of darkness and hunger. Now their black blood was being sprayed off Alex’s skin and dripping thickly down the drain.
Part of her melancholy was the knowledge that if they’d gotten the information Jessica Bowen needed, it would just mean the GMT would be going out again very soon. They’d once again be fighting for their lives in some dark hole in the ground, scavenging ancient equipment from a dead civilization.
After she’d been cleaned and cleared, she went back to the hangar. The medical crew was still decontaminating the ship.
A tall, thick man with close-cropped red hair was marking items off on a clipboard. He glanced up at her warily, and it took her a moment to place him. Sergeant Russell.
She almost apologized for yelling at him, but the fear and respect she saw in his eyes made her reconsider. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing to have some people think you were an asshole.
He dropped his clipboard to his side and fired off a crisp salute as she approached.
“Where’s Captain Brickman?” she asked.
“He was taken to the hospital in the Hub, ma’am. They needed to reset his fractured arm. He’ll be out in a few hours.”
“Thanks, Sergeant.” She turned and walked away without waiting for him to say more.
Firefly and Drew were waiting for her outside the hangar.
“Hey,” Firefly said. “We’re thinking about heading out for a drink and bite to eat. Wanna come?”
Of course, she did. Before they’d asked, she would have said she didn’t want to talk to anyone for at least forty-eight hours. But these guys had been through it with her. Them, she could talk to. “Should we invite Owl?”
“Nah,” Drew said. “She went off with Brian and Director Bowen to look at the data she mined. She’s in nerd heaven.”
Alex glanced over and saw Wesley standing near the door, just within earshot. “How about you? Up for a drink with the team?”
His puppy-like look of gratitude almost made her sorry she’d asked.
They went to their respective quarters to change into something other than gym shorts and tee shirts, then reconvened at Tankards. Drew and Firefly were already waiting at their usual table when Alex arrived. She joined them and found a drink waiting for her. There was one set up for Wesley, as well.
It was clear from the way he stepped through the door that Wesley had been in this bar before. He walked with a confidence he hadn’t displayed in the hangar or down on the surface. Alex waved him over.
They clinked glasses and toasted to their safe return and CB’s quick recovery.
Drew slammed his mug on the table and dragged the back of his arm across his face. His shirt sleeve soaked up the beer on his stubbly face. “So, Wes, what did you think of your first mission?”
Wesley shook his head and whistled. “Man, I don’t know where to start.”
“Better question,” Alex said. “What’d you learn?”
When he hesitated, Firefly jumped in.
“I’ll tell you
what you need to learn. You were way too precious with your ammo in that hallway. You get in that situation again, aim for the legs and let her rip. Don’t let up on the trigger ’til all them bastards are on the floor. It won’t kill them, but it’ll slow them down long enough for you to get a handle on your situation. Then you can lob a grenade at them, take your time shooting them in the head, whatever.”
Wesley leaned forward, listening intently and nodding along with every word. He might as well have been taking notes.
“Better lesson,” Alex said. “You get in trouble like that again, say something. We’re a team. That means we have to talk constantly. It’s tough to ask for help, but it’s necessary if you’re gonna last.”
Firefly shook his head and laughed. “Man, CB’s really got you brainwashed. I think he gave me that same speech once or twice.”
“You’re not the only one,” Alex said. “And he’s right. Teamwork keeps us alive.”
Drew nudged Wesley. “She was on the team ten months before she even saw her first vampire. That was one hell of a job for your first mission.”
“Hear, hear,” Alex said, raising her glass.
They toasted again, this time in Wesley’s honor.
After they’d set their glasses down, Wesley said, “You guys see all the protestors on the way in here?”
“It was hard to miss them,” Drew said.
Alex nodded her agreement. It seemed like the whole situation had spun even further out of control during the few hours they’d been away. A couple of days ago, it had just been the Resettlers who’d been protesting, but now there were just as many people holding signs speaking out against Fleming and his followers.
“Coming back from that mission today and seeing the crap going on up here?” Alex said. “I gotta admit, it’s a little disheartening. This ship is weeks away from breaking down, and they’re fighting about the politics of it all? Simmons gave his life to protect this place, but I didn’t see a single sign thanking him.”
“That’s the way of it,” Drew said. “That’d rather hold signs about what they hate than what they love.”