“Clinic still open?” asked Eddie, and Alek smiled. She must’ve gotten through to him.
“I said it would be as long as you need it. What can I do for you?”
Eddie glanced back at his men and moved further into the room, out of their earshot, and beckoned Alek to follow. “It’s kinda personal,” he said as Alek drew near. He sensed one of the men coming up behind him, and turned to tell him that he needed to speak with Eddie confidentially and that he would get his turn. He was met with a cattle prod to the chest.
Pain and electricity shot through him, freezing him in place while it burned every cell and nerve ending as his tormentor held the prod against him. Alek heard a shout from Zach, then a scream. Then silence.
He felt his teeth and nails extend as his body instinctively prepared to fight, but all of his superhuman strength couldn’t help him move so much as a finger to defend himself or his friend as long as that current coursed through him.
By the time it stopped, mercifully, blissfully, there was no strength left in him. He collapsed, barely holding onto consciousness as he felt himself lifted and dragged by the arms. After a moment, he felt the fresh night air on his face, and knew they had taken him outside. They paused, dropping him at the top of the steps, and Alek braced himself, waiting for whatever came next. Then someone kicked him hard in the ribs, and sent him rolling, flailing, down the steps and to the asphalt of the street below.
He barely had time to register the new pain before he was once again being dragged, this time along the street. When it stopped, they bound his hands and feet, then raised his arms over and past his head and tied his wrists to something. He opened his eyes and managed to focus enough to see that they were tying him to the back bumper of one of their Hummers.
“The others,” he managed, finding the strength to speak. That was a good sign. If his strength returned before they drove off with him, he might stand a chance. But he doubted he’d be strong enough to break his bonds before that happened. “They won’t let you leave with me. Not like this.”
Eddie appeared in his field of vision and crouched down next to him. “You mean the other vampires? Don’t worry, we already took care of them.” He jerked his head to indicate whatever was behind him. Alek looked and saw the bus, full of the women and children and elderly that he’d spent all day tending to. On the front of it, he realized with growing horror, were mounted several heads, all of them familiar. Carl’s head was front and center, gaping at Alek with an open mouth and lifeless eyes.
Alek shut his own eyes. “Why are you doing this?”
“Why?” Eddie laughed at the question. “Why do you think? What, you think humanity’s just gonna lie down and let your kind walk all over us?” He spat, and it landed on Alek’s shirt. “This is what we do. We eliminate your kind, every chance we get. This is war.”
“Then why not just kill me, like you did them?”
Eddie stood, and seemed to contemplate Alek for a moment. “You think I didn’t know she was here? We’ve had our eye on your little operation here for a long time. Been watching.” He laughed at the confusion on Alek’s face. “Oh, yeah, we got our ways. We didn’t survive the last six months by not knowing how to be stealthy.” He shook his head. “When I saw her, I knew I had to come and get her. It’s what her daddy would’ve wanted. Only problem is, she doesn’t want to leave.” Again, he crouched down, leaning down in Alek’s face. “I don’t know how you did it, but you went and brainwashed my best friend’s girl.”
Alek couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re kidding, right? Hannah, brainwashed? You don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”
Eddie hit him, punching him square in the mouth. Alek licked his lips and tasted blood not his own. Realizing Eddie had cut his hand on his extended fangs gave Alek a small sense of satisfaction. Eddie flexed his hand and shook it out, then pointed down at Alek. “You shut your mouth, blood-sucker. Don’t you tell me I don’t know that girl. Her daddy was a brother to me, and I’ve known her since she was as big as that brother of hers.” He kicked Alek in the ribs, and spat on him again. “I’m doing this for him. You don’t get to die clean, like they did.” He pointed behind him at the heads of Alek’s fallen friends. “You’re gonna die messy.”
He stood up and called out, “Let’s roll!” A moment later, the Hummer’s engine started, and then it took off down the street, dragging Alek behind it.
THIRTY-SIX
Hannah awoke to the sounds of shouting. She got out of bed and ran to the front room to look out the window. The street was filling up with people, and for an awful moment she had a flashback to that morning her father had gotten her out of bed. But these people, her neighbors, weren’t wandering aimlessly like the dead. They looked confused and concerned.
She went to check on Noah, and found him sound asleep in his crib. Then she went to the closet and took out a gun, Eddie’s warning about the fence still fresh in her memory. Tucking it in the waistband of her pajama pants, she went outside.
She joined Paula and Chris in the street. Zach was with them, and he didn’t look good. “They took him,” he was saying as Hannah approached. “They trashed the lab and destroyed everything, and they took him!”
“Who?” she asked.
He was clutching his chest, as though in pain. “Your uncle,” he said.
Hannah didn’t understand. “Eddie? Who took him? Took him where?”
Zach shook his head. “Eddie did this. He and his men. They took Alek. I came to and stumbled outside just as they were driving off. They went in the direction of the main gate.”
Hannah was still processing what Zach said when a truck rattled up and stopped. Ned climbed out, looking like he’d just watched someone shoot his dog. “I found their bodies,” he said.
“Whose bodies?” asked Chris.
Ned shuffled toward them, clearly still in shock. “Carl and the others. Someone took their heads, but left their bodies.”
“Sweet merciful Lord,” cried Paula.
Oh, God, thought Hannah. Alek. She started to run in the direction of the gate, but someone grabbed her arm. “Wait!” said Chris. “We’ll all go.” He turned to the gathering crowd. “Whoever has weapons and wants to go with us, go get them and pile in the truck!” He looked back at Hannah, and released her arm. “They have to get through a wall of zombies once they’re through the gate. That should slow them down.”
Instead of arguing, Hannah ran into her house to get the rest of her dad’s guns. Paula followed her. “I’ll stay with the baby,” she said. “You and Chris be careful.”
Hannah nodded. “Thanks.” She slammed a fresh ammo cartridge into the automatic shotgun, checked to make sure the rifle was loaded, and tossed extra ammo for all three guns into a bag before heading back out to the truck. Was this what Eddie meant when he’d warned her to stay away from the vampires? Was he already plotting to kill them all, and he just didn’t want her in the way?
Rage filled her as she climbed into the truck cab with Chris and Ned. She wanted to kill Eddie. If he had hurt Alek, if he’d cut off his head—just the thought made it hard to breathe, like a fist wrapped around her lungs, squeezing the air out of them. Alek had to be okay. He had to be. She still had so much to tell him, so much to figure out…
Except, suddenly, everything was crystal clear.
Family friend or not, if Eddie had killed Alek, she would put a bullet in his brain.
But she wouldn’t get the chance. When they pulled up to the gate, Eddie and his people were long gone. Bodies were strewn out on the ground, both inside and outside the fence. It looked like some of the shamblers that hadn’t been killed had wandered off in the direction that Eddie and the others had gone, but others, from other sections of the fence, were already coming to close the gap. And in the middle of the gate, on the wrong side of the fence, hung Alek.
“I don’t get it,” said Chris. “Don’t they know shamblers aren’t interested in vampires? Why’d they leave him out there
like that?”
“They didn’t leave him for the zombies,” said Hannah, with increasing horror. “They left him for the sun.” She got out of the truck and ran to the gate. “Alek? Can you hear me?”
They’d bound his wrists to the chain link with handcuffs, high enough that his feet dangled. The cuffs were closed so tight they bit into his flesh as gravity pulled the rest of him down. His clothes hung in tatters, and so did the skin on his back. If he was human, she’d assume he was probably dead. But his head was still attached, and that gave her hope. “Alek?” she asked again.
He lifted his head. Just a little, but enough to prove there was still life in him. “Hannah?” he rasped.
“We’re going to get you down. Just—” she almost said “hang in there,” but stopped herself. “Just hold on.”
“No,” he said. “Don’t come out here. Too dangerous.”
“We’ll figure something out,” she told him. “We’re not leaving you.”
“You have to. Hannah, don’t open that gate. Don’t you come out here.”
“Shut up, Alek. We’re rescuing you.” She turned back to the others. “We need to hurry, before this place fills back up with shamblers. Get everybody on the watchtowers with their guns. Right now there are few enough that you shouldn’t have any trouble keeping them off of me while I bring him in.”
“Hannah, wait,” said Chris.
“I’m bringing him in. We’re not leaving him out there.”
“No,” said Chris, “but we need to be smart about it. All of this commotion’s already bringing the shamblers from the other side of camp. You know how fast they can mob up.”
“But if we hurry—”
“He’s right,” said Zach. “It’s too risky. We need a better plan.” He looked over at the fence. “Maybe we can climb up, and haul him over.”
“Over that barbed wire?” asked Chris.
“We could cut it away.”
“That fence is twelve feet tall,” said Hannah, “and Alek’s six feet down. How do we get down to him?”
That seemed to stump them. Finally, Chris said, “This is an Army base. We go to the armory, get some body armor, some machine guns—”
“They probably took all of that,” said Hannah, suddenly realizing that was probably the reason Eddie had brought them there in the first place. “But it can’t hurt to check.”
“They didn’t take my tank,” said Ned. “I say we go get that, and let me drive you out there. Use the gun turrets to hold ‘em off while somebody retrieves the doc.”
Hannah nodded. “All right. Let’s move.” As the others climbed back into the truck, Hannah went back to Alek. “We’re going to go gear up, but we’ll be back, okay? We’re going to get you down from there.” She reached up to grasp his hands through the chain link. She had to stand on her toes to reach them. It appeared to take a lot of effort, but Alek managed to turn his head to look back at her. “I’m coming for you,” she told him.
“Hannah—”
“Just hold tight.” It gutted her to leave him there, but for the moment she had no choice. She got back in the truck.
***
She’d been right about them coming to raid the armory, but they hadn’t been able to take everything. Far from it. But the fact that Eddie hadn’t left them defenseless did nothing to soften Hannah’s rage. She, Chris, Zach and three other volunteers donned helmets and full body armor, and armed themselves with machine guns. Then they loaded back in the truck and went to meet Ned and the tank at the gate.
More volunteers had gathered at the gate. The crowd of shamblers had grown thicker, as she’d known they would. Everyone piled out of the truck, and Ned popped up from the tank’s hatch. “There’s a set of bolt cutters in the back of the truck. You’ll need those to cut him down. And somebody needs to get up in the tower to operate the gate.”
“We checked the tower while you were gone,” said one of the volunteers. “They smashed the controls. It’ll have to be opened manually.”
Another one piped up without hesitation. “I’ll do it.” Hannah recognized Captain Burrell, her home’s original owner, from pictures in her bedroom closet.
The first volunteer nodded. “I’ll stay with you and keep the shamblers off.”
“All right,” shouted Ned. “Everybody who’s coming with me, get in the tank!”
“Hannah.” Alek called to her, his voice barely audible. She went over to him as the others climbed into the tank. “Please don’t come out here,” he said. “It’s too risky.”
“Sorry, Alek. You don’t get a say in this.”
“Not you, then. Stay inside. Stay safe.”
The pleading tone of his voice almost persuaded her. Then something made her ask, “If it was me out there, would you stay inside?” He turned his head to meet her gaze, and the look in his eyes said that he most definitely would not. She grasped the fence next to him and leaned in. “Here I come,” she told him.
Chris and Zach both leaned down to help haul her into the tank. Along with them were Ned and two other volunteers whose names she hadn’t learned. “Get as close to him as you can,” she told Ned. “Once we’re there, the three of you can use the gun turrets to hold them off.” She turned to Chris and Zach. “I’ll go with you two, and take care of anything that gets past the tank.”
Nobody argued with her plan. “Here we go,” said Ned, and the tank started to roll. Minutes later, it came to a stop. “We’re here. Forrest, Graham, get in the turrets. The rest of you wait till I say it’s clear.”
Hannah gripped her gun and waited patiently while rapid gunfire sounded above her. Finally, Ned gave the all clear. She burst up through the hatch and slid to the ground, gun at the ready. Chris slid down behind her, followed by Zach. Two shamblers came around the back of the tank, and Hannah shot them both. She and Chris covered both ends while Zach cut Alek free, then he and Chris hauled Alek into the tank. With Alek inside, Chris reached back down to help Hannah up. She took his hand and let him pull her, but halfway up something grabbed her leg. She kicked at it, then gunfire exploded in her ear. The shambler’s head exploded, and Hannah was hauled into the tank.
Chris’s mouth moved as he seemed to ask her something, but her ears were ringing too much to hear anything. She crawled over to Alek, who lay with his head in Zach’s lap. His chest, torso and legs were as badly torn up as his back. It looked like every inch of him must be in pain, and Hannah was afraid to touch him. But when she took hold of his hand, he squeezed her fingers and didn’t let go.
A moment later, someone tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to the open hatch above. The others were climbing out. Carefully, she, Zach and Chris managed to get Alek out of the tank and into the back of the truck.
THIRTY-SEVEN
Her hearing was coming back. “Oh, man,” she heard Zach say. “He’s hurt bad.”
“Should we get him to the infirmary?”
He shook his head. “It’s trashed. We need to get him home.”
“My place is closer,” said Hannah. “Take us there.”
The sky was already beginning to lighten when they pulled up in front of her house. Chris and Hannah half carried, half dragged Alek up the front walk. Paula met them on the front porch with the baby. “What happened? What did they do to him?”
“They tied him to the wrong side of the fence and left him for the sun,” Chris told her.
“Let’s get him to the couch,” said Hannah. Once they laid him down, she closed the living room curtains, then headed into the kitchen to close those, too. At Zach’s request, she retrieved a pair of scissors so he could cut away what was left of Alek’s clothes. Hannah covered her mouth to hold in a wave of sickness and panic as she saw the true extent of his injuries. She had thought she’d seen the worst that could happen to a vampire without killing them when he’d gotten burned while rescuing Abby. But this was so far beyond that. His skin hung in shreds, with cuts so deep in some places you could see all the way to the bone.
“He needs blood,” she said.
Chris nodded and started for the door. “I’ll go get some. How much?”
Zach shook his head. “Don’t bother. They broke into the lab and trashed the place. They destroyed the blood bank.”
“Then we have to feed him,” said Hannah. She stripped off her helmet and vest as she crossed back to the couch, then sat next to him and began rolling up her sleeve. She didn’t let herself think about it. She just kept moving. She had to make him okay.
Zach put a hand on her shoulder. “Not like that.”
“Why not?”
“Because there’s a chance he’ll be running on pure instinct. Once he starts drinking straight from the tap he might not be able to stop himself.”
She looked from Zach to Chris. “Then you guys can stop him.”
Zach snorted. “As strong as he is? I really don’t like our chances of going up against a feral version of the doc, even if he is weakened by his injuries.”
Undeterred, Hannah got up and returned to the kitchen, where she took out a tall drinking glass and a kitchen knife. She set the glass on the bar and – don’t think. Don’t stop. Just make him okay – ran the edge of the blade across her left palm. Paula cried out, which made the baby start to cry. She heard his sobs retreat as Paula took him to his room. Zach and Chris both walked over to the counter and watched in resignation as blood flowed from her palm into the glass.
“Did that hurt?” asked Zach.
“Not really, but I’m sure it will when the adrenaline wears off.” She looked up at Chris. “I’ve got bandages and disinfectant in the bathroom under the sink. Can you get them?”
He went without a word, and returned a moment later with a first aid kit and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. He brought them over to the counter and tore open a large, square adhesive bandage for her. He tore a paper towel off of the roll and dampened it, then handed her that, too. Then he picked up the knife.
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