The Savage World Box Set: A Post-Apocalyptic Adventure Series: The Vampire World Saga Books 1-3

by P. T. Hylton

  The three of them tumbled past the edge of New Haven and into the dark void beyond.

  Alex maneuvered herself into a dive, trying to cut an aerodynamic line to catch up to the other two. Fleming snarled as he saw her coming. He let go of Jessica and tried to angle himself toward her.

  Jessica screamed as she fell. She was spinning wildly, the space between her and Fleming quickly increasing.

  Alex glanced at Jessica, silently hoping she could hold it together for just another moment. Then Alex raised the pistol still clutched in her hand. She took careful aim as the wind rushed by.

  Fleming flailed, trying to gain control of his fall. He stared at Alex, the look on his face revealing his complete bafflement at how she’d gotten the better of him and why she’d thrown herself down after him.

  Alex held the gun as steady as she could and squeezed the trigger. The round went straight through Fleming’s forehead.

  She was pretty sure that he was dead, but pretty sure was not good enough. Not where Fleming was concerned.

  She drew her sword and dove toward his suddenly limp body. As she reached him, she swung hard, knowing this would take more force than normal. Her sword bit into his neck, decapitating him.

  For a long moment, Alex stared at his severed head falling through the air.

  She couldn’t believe it. The fight was finally over. Fleming was dead.

  Alex allowed herself just another second to stare, then she dove toward Jessica.

  The engineer was still spinning wildly, but Alex reached out and caught her arm.

  Alex pulled her in and shouted, “Hold on!”

  Then she activated her jetpack.

  Thank God she hadn’t had time to take off her gear.

  The jetpack struggled and coughed under the weight of two people. It held them aloft, but Alex wasn’t sure it would be enough to get them back up to New Haven.

  Then Owl’s voice came through her headset. “Need a ride?”

  In the distance above, she saw another, smaller ship pulling away from New Haven.

  “Yes!” she shouted.

  Alex and Jessica floated in the dark sky, clutching each other for dear life as they waited for the away ship to arrive.

  Epilogue

  Firefly walked the corridors of Agartha aimlessly, much as he had every night for the past two weeks.

  Jaden, the vampires, and the people of Agartha had all welcomed Firefly and the former Resettlers to the city. The newcomers were provided blood and places to sleep, though some of them had to bunk three to a room due to space constraints.

  Despite the warm welcome, it was clear the presence of nearly two hundred new vampires was causing some upheaval in the city. Everything from the supply of blood to the question of what the new vampires were even supposed to do with themselves was up in the air. Jaden and his vampires had a strict routine, but more than doubling their number had thrown off their well-ordered lives.

  But to Firefly, the worst of it was being left alone each night with his tortured thoughts. He was having a difficult time grappling with everything that had happened. He’d dedicated his life to keeping humans safe from vampires, and instead he’d gotten an entire settlement killed. Not to mention Robert, who he’d personally murdered.

  And now he had an endless, meaningless life stretched out in front of him with nothing to fill it but regret.

  He sensed two vampires moving in behind him, and he greeted them without looking back. “Hello, Jaden. Hello… is that Natalie?”

  “Nicely done,” Natalie said. “Got it in one. You must be learning our scents.”

  “Can we talk to you a minute?” Jaden asked.

  “Of course,” Firefly answered, the surprise clear in his voice.

  Jaden led him to a corridor deep in the interior of the mountain. It was a part of the city Firefly had yet to visit. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around much these past two weeks.”

  “It’s all right,” Firefly said. “I’m sure you have better things to do than babysit me.”

  Jaden chuckled. “Indeed. I’ve been doing some thinking, and I’ve had a few insights. I spent time grieving, thinking about my friends who died in Denver. But then I suddenly remembered my Shakespeare. ‘We few. We happy few. We band of brothers.’”

  “Sorry, you lost me. Shake what?”

  “Ugh, don’t get him started,” Natalie groaned. “If you give him the least bit of encouragement, he’ll do the entire Saint Crispin’s Day speech.”

  “That was one time,” Jaden protested.

  “Yes, but we were trying to fight off the second wave. The Battle of Pittsburgh, wasn’t it? Not exactly the time for speeches.”

  Jaden turned back to Firefly. “The point is, I realized you’re part of the vampire brotherhood now. We take mentorship very seriously, and it’s time we start teaching you what being a vampire truly means. We have a lot of work to do if we want to set things right.”

  “Set things right?” Firefly asked. “Fleming’s dead. Mark and Aaron are dead. Agartha and New Haven are safe.”

  Jaden laughed. “You’re still thinking like a human. Yes, the immediate threat is defeated, but what about the larger one? You think this world is as it should be? You think it’s meant to be filled with Ferals, too dangerous for humans to even set foot here during the night?” He shook his head at the stupidity of the idea. “Look, Fleming was a fool for moving on such an aggressive timeline and for just sticking a bunch of humans behind a thirty-foot wall and thinking they’d be fine. But he wasn’t wrong about one thing. Agartha and New Haven won’t last forever.”

  Firefly nodded slowly. “I guess we should start coming up with a plan.”

  Jaden burst out laughing again. “Start? What do you think we’ve been doing these last one hundred and fifty years? We have a plan. We were just missing one element.”

  “What’s that?” Firefly asked.

  “You.” Jaden reached a door and scanned his keycard. The light next to the door beeped and Jaden turned the handle, looking back at Firefly with a sly smile.

  “Wait, what?”

  Jaden waved him inside. “Come. See.”

  Firefly stepped into the large room. The walls were covered with maps, mostly of places he’d never even heard of. Hand-drawn circles and writing covered much of their surface. “What is this place?”

  “It’s our war room,” Jaden said. “It’s where our plan is going to come together.”

  Firefly noticed another man standing on the other side of the room. He greeted Firefly with a nod.

  “Ah,” Jaden said, “You two haven’t met. Firefly, this is Frank. He’s a fellow New Haven resident. Former resident anyway. He moved down here to enjoy our less sunny atmosphere.”

  Firefly sniffed and noticed no human scent coming off this man. Frank was a vampire. “I don’t understand. How could a vampire—”

  “We’ll explain it all,” Jaden said. “For now, just know that he’s a friend. He helped take down Fleming. Even took a bullet to the chest.”

  “Missed my heart by an inch,” Frank said with a smile.

  “It’s about time you had some good luck,” Jaden pointed out. He turned back to Firefly. “Frank has a role to play in what’s to come, too. His knowledge is going to come in handy.”

  Natalie elbowed Jaden in the ribs. “Quit being so coy. Just tell him.”

  “Fine.” Jaden’s face grew more serious. “Firefly, you and your people dedicated yourself to Resettlement. To bringing the humans back to the surface. That fight isn’t over. In fact, it’s just beginning. We’re going to make sure you see it through.”

  Firefly shook his head. “I still don’t understand. Why me? Why us?”

  “Because you’re the link between humans and vampires,” Natalie explained. “I haven’t been a human in centuries. And this guy,” she cocked her thumb at Jaden, “they literally hadn’t invented windmills the last time his heart beat. But your vampires are still connected to the humans.”

&
nbsp; “It won’t be easy, and it won’t be quick,” Jaden explained, “not even by vampire standards. But I think we have a plan to make it work.”

  For the first time in two weeks, Firefly felt a spark of hope. After everything he’d been through, every mistake he’d made, maybe there would be a way to truly help the world. Maybe his existence could have a purpose after all.

  “What’s the plan?”

  Jaden and Natalie exchanged a glance.

  “Tell him the other part,” Natalie said.

  Jaden looked at Firefly. “For this all to make sense, you need to understand something. You’ve heard about the three waves of vampires that destroyed humanity, but there’s more to that story. A lot more. There are things that happened during the infestation that humans can never know. But as a vampire, you must know them. That’s our burden. And it may hold the key to true Resettlement.”

  “What things?” Firefly asked.

  Jaden nodded toward the still-open door. “Shut that. Then I’ll tell you the real story of how civilization fell.”

  Firefly walked to the doorway, his knees shaking ever so slightly, not sure if he wanted to hear what Jaden was about to tell him.

  Then he closed the door.

  Though it was only six thirty in the morning, the GMT workout facility was already bustling with activity.

  Patrick and Ed took turns at the squat rack, trying to outdo each other both in terms of weight lifted and insults hurled.

  Wesley was on the sparring mat with Beau, each of them wearing boxing gloves and headgear. While Beau wasn’t officially on the team, CB had given him a provisional status while Chuck recovered from his injuries.

  On the other side of the room, Owl sweated her way through a set of shoulder presses. Chuck pedaled his exercise bike, his arm still in a sling.

  Alex stepped into the facility and took all this in. It was great to see her team working out, but it only reminded her that she wouldn’t be able to join them today. She had another mission.

  Ed did a double take when he saw her. “Whoa, Captain, you look good!”

  She grimaced. Exactly the type of response she’d been hoping to avoid. CB had insisted she dress up today. “Yeah, well, don’t get used to it. Tomorrow these heels will be in the closet where they belong, and I’ll be back in my combat boots.”

  She heard a grunt from the corner of the workout area and let out a laugh at what she saw there.

  CB stood behind a bench in full dress attire. And below him, Brian McElroy was doing a set of bench presses.

  Alex sauntered over, a wide smile on her face.

  “One more, Brian, you got this,” CB barked.

  Brian let out a massive grunt as he lifted the barbell and its modest set of plates, finally getting them all the way up.

  Alex waited in silence while CB helped him guide the bar back onto the rack. Only then did she speak. “Brian McElroy. I’m impressed! When did you start pumping iron?”

  Brian’s face reddened when he saw her. “Oh, hey Alex.” He glanced at the clock. “About thirty minutes ago. I sort of made a promise to CB. I said if we made it through the Fleming thing, I’d start taking care of myself. I procrastinated for two weeks, but a deal’s a deal.”

  “Good for you,” Alex said. “You ready to go, CB?”

  CB nodded grimly. Clearly he wasn’t looking forward to this any more than she was. “Polls open in thirty minutes. We better get moving.”

  They started to leave the gym, but at the last moment, Alex turned back. “Hey Brian, you want to meet me at Tankards tonight?”

  He tilted his head in surprise. “Sure. What for?”

  “A date,” she said with a smile.

  “Oh!” He suddenly sat up a bit straighter. “Yeah, a date. Let’s do it.”

  “Seven o’clock. Don’t be late.” With that, she turned and followed CB out the door.

  “You just made his year,” CB said with a chuckle.

  “Good. Maybe he can make my night. I haven’t seen much action lately.”

  CB sighed. “Please don’t break him. We need his help to put this ship back together.”

  “No promises, but I’ll try to be gentle.” She paused. “Speaking of putting the ship back together, how’s Jessica?”

  “Good. Excellent, actually. I saw her last night.”

  “I’m really glad you two found each other, CB,” she said.

  He smiled. “So am I.”

  They walked in silence through Sparrow’s Ridge. They’d almost reached the edge of the Hub when Alex spoke again.

  “So, we save the city, and our reward is going to more boring meetings?”

  “I’m not thrilled about it either. But try to remember it’s supposed to be an honor.”

  The two weeks since Fleming’s death had gone by in a blur of activity. General Craig had taken control of the city, and his first goal had been to re-establish peace. Through a combination of surveillance footage, eyewitness accounts, and even a video message from Firefly, they’d been able to convince most of Fleming’s followers of the truth of Resettlement and what Fleming had done to the City Council.

  Surprisingly, Sarah had been one of the keys to making that happen. She’d given an interview that had been broadcast citywide, in which she’d explained the details of exactly how the council bombing had gone down, and how Fleming had lost his mind in his final days. Everyone knew she was doing it to save her own skin, but at least she was doing it.

  Today was Election Day. General Craig had pushed to get the elections set up quickly, and he was even running for a city council spot himself, albeit reluctantly. And he’d invited CB and Alex to the Hub to help him oversee the voting process to ensure everything went smoothly. In reality, that meant spending the day in a boardroom with a bunch of politicians as they argued and waited for the election results to roll in. It wasn’t a task Alex was looking forward to, but she knew it was important.

  “You know,” CB said, “maybe you should run for office next time around. Everybody in New Haven seems to love you these days.”

  “Ha. No thanks. The storm drains under Denver were scummy enough. I don’t need to wade into politics.”

  As they reached the door to the council building, Alex paused. “CB, hang on a second. There’s something I need to say.”

  CB stopped. “Okay, now I’m worried. You’re not moving to Agartha, are you?”

  She laughed. “No, nothing like that. I just wanted to say thank you. You believed in me when no else did. You gave me my shot and let me join the GMT. Then you let me stay on the team when you probably should have kicked me off. Then you let me lead.”

  CB looked at her for a long moment before answering. “All I did was give you a chance. You took it, and you gave this city your all. If not for you, a lot more people would be dead. You’re the fiercest warrior and the most dedicated person I’ve ever met. I’m proud to be your friend.”

  Alex blinked back the tears that sprang to her eyes.

  “I don’t know what’s going to happen next,” CB continued. “Fleming stripped this ship to the bones, and it’s going to take a hell of a lot of work to get our systems safe and stable again. The GMT is going to be making frequent trips to the surface in the next few months. But today the city gets to decide its own fate.”

  Alex pulled open the double doors and took a deep breath. “Okay, CB. Let’s see what happens next.”

  The two of them walked side by side through the doors and into New Haven’s future.

  Authors’ Note

  Dear reader,

  Thanks so much for reading these books.

  As of this writing, we’ve been working on the Vampire World Saga for about two years. It seems like we discover new things about Alex and her world with just about every new chapter we write.

  It’s pretty cool how stories can evolve. In our original outline, Firefly was meant to be the big bad of book three. Things didn’t turn out that way. Alex kept wanting to give Firefly a chance, and�
��as flawed as he is—he refused to give in fully to the darkside. His unexpected resilience made this book so much better.

  Our goal with this third novel was to make it like the exciting last half hour of a movie: all action, adventure, and emotional payoffs. We hope you enjoyed the ride.

  So what’s next?

  As you can probably guess from the ending, we’re not done with The Vampire World Saga. True Resettlement is coming. But it won’t be easy. There are more than a few surprises coming and, as Jaden said, the past may hold the key to Resettlement.

  The Savage Truth, book 4 in the Vampire World Saga, is available now. Click here to check it out: http://mybook.to/TheSavageTruth

  Once again, thank you for reading!

  Best,

  P.T. Hylton and Jonathan Benecke