by P. T. Hylton
CB stepped forward, taking a place at the edge of the mat. “I’m sorry, but were you laughing at your commanding officer?”
Patrick straightened up, the laughter finally fading. “No, sir.”
“Really?” CB crossed his arms. “Because that’s what it seemed like to me. It seemed like you were laughing at Captain Goddard.”
“No, sir.” Patrick shook his head frantically. “I apologize, sir.”
CB sighed. “Well, I’m glad to hear that. Because if you were laughing at your commanding officer, I would have to get involved. But seeing as you weren’t, we can get back to training. Is that all right with you, Patrick?”
Patrick nodded, clearly relieved. “Yes sir.”
“Good.” CB nodded towards Alex. “Let’s get to it. Get on the mat, and knock Captain Goddard out.”
Patrick tilted his head, as if not sure he’d understood correctly.
Alex took a step toward him. “Did you hear that order from the colonel? Get your ass over here and knock me out!”
Patrick hesitated, looking to his teammates. None of them spoke, clearly not wanting to get involved. After another moment, Patrick hesitantly stepped towards Alex.
An easy smile came onto CB’s face. Patrick had four inches and fifty pounds on Alex, but CB never doubted the outcome of the fight he was about to watch.
Patrick raised his fists in a boxing stance, then glanced nervously at CB one more time.
“What are you waiting for?” Alex asked. “You have your orders.”
The new GMT man sighed, then stepped forward, moving lightly on the balls of his feet. He threw a quick jab, but Alex was ready. She dodged to the left, and his fist whizzed through the air next to her head.
She brought up her right knee, driving it into his stomach, and the wind rushed out of him. As he doubled over, she stepped back, giving him a moment to recover.
“Captain Goddard is still conscious, Lieutenant!” CB yelled. “Were my orders unclear?”
Patrick stood up straight, his eyes fixed on Alex. This time there was no finesse to his attack. He charged, his arms outstretched, trying to use his size to take her to the mat.
As he grabbed her arm, she sidestepped, using his momentum to flip him forward. He landed on his back with an ompf.
Alex still had hold of Patrick’s arm, and she threw her leg over it, getting him in an armlock that, from the look on Patrick’s face, was anything but pleasant. It was clear to everyone around the mat that Alex could snap Patrick’s arm, if she chose to do so.
CB chuckled. Even with everything that was going on with Fleming, Resettlement, and Agartha, watching Alex work still brought a smile to his face.
Patrick tapped the mat, and Alex let him up. CB kept one eye on Ed, but somehow, the man managed to suppress any laughter.
As Patrick brushed himself off and returned to his place at the edge of the mat, CB stepped to Alex’s side.
“Captain Goddard, have you ever seen a vampire during the day?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And what chance would you have in a fight against a vampire during the day?”
She answered immediately. “None.”
CB nodded and turned to the rest of the team. “Every one of you was chosen for this team for a reason. You’re all skilled. You’re all dedicated. You are among the best New Haven has to offer. You’ve proven yourself aboard this ship. But tomorrow, you have to prove yourself somewhere else. On the surface. And let me be very clear. That is something entirely different.”
“We have a mission, sir?” Owl asked.
“Tomorrow morning. Captain Goddard will brief you.” He paused for a moment. “Make me proud, team.”
Alex ate the last bite of her casserole, set down her fork, and sighed contentedly. “Damn, CB, how come you never told me you can cook?”
“What are you talking about? You’ve been here plenty of times.”
Alex gestured to the empty plate in front of her. “Maybe so. But I’ve never cleaned my plate.”
“Okay, fine. Maybe I did break out a special recipe tonight, but tomorrow is a big day.”
That was exactly what Alex had been trying not to think about. Still, if she’d really wanted to get away from thoughts of work, maybe she shouldn’t come to her boss’s quarters for dinner.
“So, you got any words of advice for me, Colonel?”
CB frowned. “Cut out that shit. We’re after hours. Let’s stick with CB.” He paused a moment, thinking. “You really want my advice?”
“Of course. Otherwise I wouldn’t have asked.”
CB folded his hands on the table, his eyes suddenly serious. “They’re a good group. You know they are.”
“That’s not the issue. My concern is, they aren’t a team. At least, not yet. They don’t have… I don’t know. An identity.”
The newly minted colonel shifted in his seat uncomfortably. “This isn’t going to be what you want to hear, but I’m afraid there’s nothing you can do about that. It’s going to take time. More than a few missions.”
Alex sighed. “I was afraid you’d say that. Not one of them has ever faced a vampire. And here they are, stuck with a commanding officer just tasked with her first squad.”
That was the crux of the issue, Alex knew. If CB had been leading the team of new recruits, she wouldn’t have been worried. But they didn’t have CB. They had her.
And she wasn’t sure if she’d be enough.
CB looked her in the eye. “Listen, Alex, there was a reason we picked you to lead the squad.”
“Was it because I was the last person standing?” she asked with a chuckle.
“Well, there is that. But no. We picked you because things are about to get very difficult.”
“Geez, CB, this isn’t exactly the inspirational speech I was expecting.”
CB chuckled, but there was no joy in his laughter. “Maybe not, but it’s the one you need right now. Even if Fleming is right, even if Resettlement is the way to go, there are hard times coming. This will have a cost, and Fleming sure as hell hasn’t counted it.”
Alex leaned forward and lowered her voice a little. “You don’t have to convince me, CB. You say the word, and we’ll storm the Hub right now. We can’t let him get away with this. He killed the Council.”
“Agreed. But we have to be patient. I’m meeting with Kurtz tomorrow. For now, you have one job, and one job only: keeping your team alive. We’ll carry out Fleming’s mission, but if it comes down to the mission or the team, pick the team. Every time.”
With that, CB stood up and cleared the dishes from the table. He carried them off into the nearby kitchen and set them down with a clack.
“Remember the good old days, when Firefly used to cook for us?” He didn’t wait for a reply before continuing. “Want a beer?”
“You’re the boss.”
They talked for another twenty minutes, drinking their beers and enjoying each other’s company. Every time she tried to work the conversation around to the mission, the team, or Fleming, he shut her down fast. Apparently, he’d had enough shop talk for the evening. He just wanted to enjoy a couple of beers with his good buddy Alex.
She went to bed soon after returning to her own quarters, but she lay awake long into the night, thinking of her teammates, old and new, and what the next day might bring.
6
Alex closed her eyes, not to sleep, but to block out the rest of the world for a moment.
They were ten minutes out from their destination, and Alex had spent the whole of the flight so far focused on her team. She’d given Hope a pep talk, discussed the layout of their target with Chuck, and told dirty jokes with Ed and Patrick. Whatever each person needed, she’d given them. Whatever she’d sensed would help them get in the right headspace.
Now she needed just a moment to get her own head right.
The communicator in her ear hissed to life, and Owl’s voice came through. “Ladies and gentlemen, we will soon be landing at the for
mer site of the United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility, also known as ADX Florence, Supermax, and the Alcatraz of the Rockies. If you don’t know what Alcatraz was, see me after. I’d be happy to explain the reference.”
“Captain,” Patrick called, “can you tell Owl to shut up?”
“No,” Alex snapped, her eyes still closed. “This is a GMT tradition.”
Owl continued in her chipper voice. “The facility is located in an area that was called Fremont County, Colorado, approximately one hundred miles south of Denver. Fremont County was the home of fifteen prisons, and about twenty percent of the population of the county was incarcerated. ADX Florence was the only supermax prison. Meaning that the guys they kept there were the worst of the worst.”
“And now we get to fight their undead vampiric corpses,” Ed pointed out. “Cool first mission, Captain.”
Alex cracked a smile. “Nothing but the best for you, my beloved team.”
“In lighter news,” Owl continued, “Fremont County is a great place for you bicyclists. A five-thousand-mile trail called the American Discovery Trail passes through here.”
“What the hell’s a bicyclist?” Hope asked.
“Please enjoy the rest of your flight, and prepare to kick some ass. See you on the ground.”
Alex opened her eyes as Owl finished, and she looked out the window. They were descending now, and she could see the prison below them. From up here, it looked like two big triangles. One of those, she knew, was the lobby and administrative facility. They wouldn’t be worrying about that section, at least not today. It was cut off from the cell blocks, connected only by an underground tunnel. They would have to block up that tunnel for now and deal with it later.
As much as she hated Fleming, she had to admit this place was a perfect choice for Resettlement. She’d studied the blueprints, which had been among the treasure-trove of data they’d liberated from NSA on an earlier mission, and what she saw was a set of buildings with an amazing defensive setup. There were guard towers and lights that stood one hundred and fifty feet high. The facility had eight small buildings that had been used as cellblocks, as well as one main building, all of them surrounded by a thirty-foot wall.
The only thing that concerned her from a defensive perspective was the wall. Thirty feet might sound impressive, but Alex knew that a vampire at the height of its powers would leap that wall like it was a puddle on the concrete. Fleming intended to combat that with heavy use of daylights. Alex wasn’t convinced it would be enough.
Still, she had her orders, and she was going to follow them. At least for now.
Owl set them down in the yard near the center of the cluster of buildings, and Alex was the first off of the ship. She scanned their surroundings, trying to decide on an approach.
“It’s a nice day for it.”
Alex looked up and saw Hope standing next to her, a wry smile on her face. It was strange seeing this young woman with short, black hair carrying the demolitions equipment, instead of Firefly.
“Yeah, it’s not bad,” Alex agreed. The sun shone brightly overhead, and though there was nearly a foot of snow under their feet, the yard was clear of most vegetation even after a century and a half of zero upkeep. She remembered Owl saying something about the arid climate in this part of the world.
“Where do we start, Captain?” Patrick asked.
Alex nodded toward the nearest building. Then she turned back to the team. “Slow and steady. That’s how we get this done. We stay close together, and you listen for my orders, got it?”
They responded that they did.
Alex led them to the first building. There were no windows, but the door stood wide open. She hoped that was a good sign. Maybe they’d simply let all the prisoners out near the end. If so, it was possible that this place was still empty. She wasn’t counting on it, though.
She donned her headlamp and ordered the team to do the same. Then they stepped into the cell block.
Alex scanned their surroundings and immediately felt a little better about their mission. The space was open and there were clear sight lines. She imagined this was so that the guards could see the prisoners from any angle. There were two levels of cells and a narrow walkway running along in front of them. The walkways were covered with the bars and plexiglass.
All the cell doors stood open, adding a little more credence to Alex’s hopeful theory that maybe this place was already empty.
Chuck, the recon expert, nodded toward the floor. “This is solid concrete, and it looks tacked down. At least we know vampires won’t be popping up through the ground.”
“That’s something,” Patrick muttered. “I’m probably not supposed to say this on my first mission, but this place is creepy as hell.”
Alex couldn’t disagree. The strangest thing was how well preserved it was. A thick layer of dust covered everything, but that aside, this place could have been in use yesterday.
They crept through an open gate, staying in tight formation, and reached the first of the cells.
Hope scanned it with her eyes. “Holy hell. I can’t believe this place. I’ve spent a few nights in jail back in New Haven, but it wasn’t anything like this. What are these cells? Like six feet by ten feet?”
“Something like that,” Alex confirmed.
Each cell contained only a bed, a sink, a toilet, and a tiny slit that served as a window. Alex reminded herself that the worst criminals of the pre-infestation era had been held here.
And now Fleming wanted to make it home to the people of New Haven.
The team cleared the first building without incident, and one hour later, they were ready to move on.
Aside from the creepy factor of the still-made beds and the well-ordered cells, Alex felt better about this mission. The team was focused and responding to her orders well.
But she wouldn’t let her guard down. Not now; not ever again.
As they stepped back out into the sunlight, she turned to her team. “Well done, people. Moving on to building two.”
The team searched the next two buildings without incident, moving carefully through the darkened, eerie structures.
While Alex never let her guard down, she did allow herself to relax ever so slightly. The layouts of the buildings were identical, and once they’d cleared the first, it was simply a matter of repeating the procedure. First, they checked the cells. Then, on to the cafeteria. Then, the guard areas. Finally, the small basement, which contained four even more private cells, in what Alex assumed was an isolation wing.
It also gave her the chance to assess her team. Overall, she was impressed. They stayed focused, and they followed orders well. Just as importantly, they remained alert throughout the long, boring search.
Midway through the third building, Alex nudged Chuck. “You take the lead for the rest of this building.”
His eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly recovered, nodding and taking Alex’s place at the front.
Alex fell back to the rear to observe him in action. She’d known from day one that she was going to need a right-hand man, someone to whom she could delegate leadership responsibilities from time to time, the same way CB had to her and Simmons.
Even though Owl had been on the team the longest, she was the first to admit that she wasn’t a leader and didn’t want to be. She preferred to stay with the ship, when possible.
That left the new recruits. From among them, Chuck was the obvious pick. He was clear-headed and insightful. He was respectful, but also unafraid to speak his mind. Even though it was their first real mission to the surface as a team, Alex wanted to get him started on the path to leadership immediately, even in a small way.
He performed admirably as he led them through the third building, and Alex clapped him on the back as they headed for the fourth cellblock.
“Well done. You kept a good eye on your teammates, and I like how you barked at Ed when he tried to hurry. Next time—”
A noise like a high-pi
tched whine came from the depths of the fourth building, cutting Alex off.
“What the hell was that?” Hope asked.
Alex clutched her pistol in a two-handed grip as she edged toward the door. “That was a vampire howl.”
“You gotta be kidding me,” Patrick muttered, his voice thick with concern.
“Afraid not.”
Alex glanced back at her team, spending a moment studying each of their drawn faces. The fear was evident in every one of them, but none of them were freaking out. That was a good sign. She pushed her own apprehension aside. “Looks like this mission just got a little more exciting. Have your weapons ready, but don’t fire at anything unless you know what you’re shooting at. I’ll take the lead.” She gave them a moment, then turned back toward the door. “Let’s earn our pay.”
They moved slowly through cell block four, searching even more methodically for the vampire they knew was hidden somewhere in the structure. While the work was the same as in the other buildings, the knowledge that an undead creature was not only possible, but was a reality, cast a heavy cloud of tension over them as they searched.
When they were halfway through the upper row of cells, they heard the howl again.
Chuck exchanged a glance with Alex. “That’s definitely coming from below us.”
Alex nodded. She’d been thinking the same thing, but wanted to let one of them say it. “Well, let’s not keep our friend waiting.”
She led them down the stairs to the small basement. As they reached the bottom, she instructed Owl to guard the stairs, to make sure nothing came at them from behind.
Just like in the other buildings, the basements were divided into two sections: one that housed the mechanical systems, and one that housed four cells. The two sections were separated and walled off from each other. Alex led the way into the area with the cells, and they found three of the doors were open. The fourth was dented from the inside.
“Looks like we found our howler,” Ed whispered.