by M. Lorrox
All three of the Red Fangs gang—or club, or whatever they consider themselves—smile. Li Chen, a wannabe scoundrel, again speaks for the group. “I can imagine quite a bit.”
“You’ll get it. Just get me that ring and keep my name out of this.”
“Deal, but if they’re smart, they’ll ditch the hotel.”
“I’ll find them. You find the ring.”
Li Chen winks at him, then shuts the door and walks away. Madeline and Steve follow.
At the Army Research Laboratory, located just outside the beltway around Washington DC, ten of the military’s newest King Stallion helicopters are spinning up their blades. Each of the nearly one-hundred-foot-long and twenty-eight-foot-tall helicopters can carry 35,000 pounds of cargo, or eight units of the experimental, LIDAR Anti-Zombie Robot System.
The eighty individual units that comprise the LAZoR System are being deployed at the quarantine’s perimeter. Each unit needs to be placed within a line of sight to another unit, so that their infrared lasers can communicate. If positioned correctly, all the units will network together into one system that can be controlled remotely.
It is an incredibly sophisticated system that is designed for one job only.
Each of the eighty units is column-shaped with a larger diameter at the bottom, is ten-feet tall, and weighs over 4,000 pounds. Each has five gallons of diesel fuel and a 2,000-watt generator, a computer controller, optical networking capabilities, a 360-degree target acquisition system, a LIDAR range detection and targeting system, and, at the very top, a gun that can turn 350 degrees and tilt plus and minus 15 degrees. 30,000 rounds of 5.56 NATO ammunition are stored in each unit’s base.
They quickly earned the nickname “Gunhead” because each unit has a gun for a head, and that gun aims at the target’s head.
Up to one hundred targets per second can be assessed and tracked by each individual LAZoR unit. When multiple units are networked together, firing efficiency can be maximized: one bullet per brain, from whatever unit is in range, is ready to fire, and whose gun has the shortest distance to travel. They are designed to be used off-grid, so the current lack of working telecommunications around the quarantine isn’t an issue.
The only issue right now is that they’re not already linked up and doing their job on the ground.
When the word came to deploy, Corporal Clyde Wilson, the LAZoRS Group 6 Team Leader, almost jumped out of his skin. He was on break, watching some off-duty specialists play Battlefield. They were kicking ass in the mist of Argonne Forest when the orders were issued. Within seconds, he and his team, and the other nine teams, got moving. The player’s game character was left behind, however, and he didn’t put up a fight while being bayonetted to death.
Corporal Wilson activates the last of his group’s eight LAZoR units attached to the deployment rig, slides his glasses back into place, then rushes to his seat in the LAZoRS Group 6 King Stallion. He flips on his helmet’s transmit button. “LG6 secured and ready, green to flight deck. Over.”
Each LAZoRS Group King Stallion is dispatched in order, and each carefully lifts its massive payload—35,000 pounds of advanced weaponry in a steel grid held by a dozen thick steel cables. Bundles of wires hang down from each helicopter’s cabin and connect to the units in the deployment grid, swaying in the air like thick black noodles.
LAZoRS Group 6’s King Stallion is given clearance to take off, and Corporal Wilson holds his breath as the beast lifts the cargo. In minutes, all the helicopters are flying in a single line toward DC, but soon their individual headings spread them to the sides as they fly toward their assigned sections of the quarantine zone.
Wilson and his team are to deploy their gunheads along M Street NW between the Convention Center and North Capitol Street.
Charlie and Sadie limp into the hotel with their sheathed swords in their hands.
Jules, the vampire concierge, rushes to meet them. “I’m glad to see that you two are...alive. I caught a bit of the news; there’s a lot of speculation about both of your identities.”
Charlie shrugs. “Yeah, well, they can keep guessing. What’s the situation here? Is everything under control? Did Korina return with the children yet? Have you heard from them?”
Jules holds her palms up to tell Charlie to slow down. “I have not heard from Korina, the bus has not returned, and regarding the situation here—” She motions out the front door. “—with the metro just outside and all the military activity, many people have evacuated.”
Charlie frowns. No updates about the bus?
Jules speaks gently. “I’ve only caught a bit of news, but zombies have breached the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station, and they are flowing into the city.”
Sadie looks at her husband. “If Korina didn’t get the bus out...”
Charlie extends his free hand and takes Sadie’s. “They might be on the way back already, and if not...”
Sadie sighs while her heart rate quickens.
Jules clears her throat as she studies Sadie’s eyes…then Charlie’s. She can see the pain and concern swimming in them, but also a strength. “If there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know.”
Charlie nods. “Thank you. Oh, what announcements have been made to the elders and knights staying here? Anything?”
Jules raises an eyebrow. “Captain Sarkis called all available knights to the Pentagon, and when I learned where the injured elders were being sent, I interrupted the House of Elder’s meeting and informed them. I’m not sure if they sent any announcements; I’ve had my hands full up here.”
Sadie grins and shakes her head. “I can imagine... Thank you, Jules, you’re wonderful.”
She smirks. “I know. Now, if anyone asks, will you both be headed to the hospital as well?”
Sadie looks at Charlie.
He nods. “I think we’re needed there. The elders are there, our son is on the way and...our friends are waiting...” Poor June. And Skip doesn’t know. Charlie glances over to the courtyard, where just yesterday June stood, smiling and talking to her friend. That woman who was dead in the hallway... His nostrils flare and his eyes narrow. I will tear your fucking head off, Melgaard!
Jules nods and waits, not feeling the need to fill the silence. Behind the Costanzas, she notices Rod the bellman fumble for his phone, send a text, then put his phone away in a rush. Then, Rod looks over at them, and Jules diverts her eyes back to Sadie. “Very well. Good luck, and call me if you need me.”
Sadie can feel Charlie’s blood boiling. She squeezes his hand and leads him to the elevators. When they get to the room, Charlie has to find his keycard. When they get inside, they realize that the suite has been ransacked. All the cupboards are open, the couches have been flipped, and everything that was on the counters or table is on the floor and trampled. Sadie rushes into their bedroom. “The trunk! Carles! The trunk is gone!”
Charlie closes his eyes and exhales slowly through pursed lips. You are a peaceful man who hates violence... You are a peaceful man who hates violence... You are a peaceful man who hates violence...
At the bottom of his breath, he opens his eyes and grits his teeth at the insult of the intrusion. In the bedroom, he can hear his wife groaning.
“It was my charge... I was responsible for protecting...” She sits on the bed and stares.
Charlie swallows and reassigns four hundred years of martial training and self-mastery into determined acceptance. A spasm sweeps over him, but his gaze is unflinching. I have a charge as well. I am a Knight of the Order. I am mate to the Elder Costanza. I am the Commander of the Council Guard.
He inhales. I am…the…Arashi-Ōdachi.
Jambavan drops back into the bus and seals the roof hatch. “They’re coming!”
Katlyn looks at Frank. “Everything’s locked?”
He nods.
She turns to the bus. “Everyone, let’s huddle in the middle. It might get loud outside, but everyone has to stay calm.”
Skip squeezes Minnie. “
How are you doing?”
“I’m scared.”
“It’ll be okay, they’ve got it under contr—”
-WHAM!-
Zombies slam into the back of the bus, shaking it and everyone inside. The collective reaction of the chaperones is to huddle tighter—smooshing the kids together in the center aisle. Outside, the zombies beat on the bus with their fists hard enough to break their own skin, and they snarl at the people they can see through the windows.
It’s louder inside than it was before. Korina stands up, shaking her head. “We can’t stay here.”
Jambavan stands beside her, and his eyes dart to the street in front of the bus. Zombies rush the cars there too, and they beat against the windows. Traffic isn’t going to be moving any time soon. He turns back to Korina. “I don’t have any ideas.”
The bus still shakes with the zombies bashing against it. Korina turns and peers out the window to the museum, to the door the group used when entering and exiting the building. It’s in a stone alcove, fifty yards behind the bus, and according to Katlyn, it’s locked from the inside.
-Crack!-
“Ahh!” Kids scream.
Katlyn grabs Korina’s arm. “They cracked the glass with a rock!”
“Stay calm.”
A large vampire man with short, dark hair leans over the seat in front of him toward Korina. “This is NOT normal zombie behavior.”
Korina glances from the door to the man’s face. “What’s your name?”
“Lance. I think we have to get back inside.”
She nods at him and looks at her squire. “My thoughts exactly.”
Jambavan shakes his head. “We can’t lead the kids through that, and it’s sunny out.”
“I know. You and Frank get as much gear as you can.” She looks past the squire to the rest of the bus. “I’ll need at least one volunteer to help.”
The only person that moves is Lance, who sits.
Korina motions to the back of the bus. “You, Colonel Costanza’s friend. Want to help?”
Skip swallows. “Well, I’m umm, watching—”
“Somebody will watch them for you. Get up here.”
Skip bends down to talk to Minnie, but Jennifer reaches across to him and gets his attention. “Tommy and I will take care of Minnie.” She smiles at the golden-haired girl. “Does that sound okay to you, darling?”
Minnie presses her body against Skip. “No!”
Skip hugs her. “Stay here with Tommy and Jennifer. Do what they say.” Then he stands and makes his way to the front.
When he reaches Korina, she’s arguing with Jambavan, who is shaking his head. “I’m sorry, I just think it’s a really bad idea.”
She sighs. “I don’t love it either, but it’s the only plan we’ve got.”
Skip puts his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “What’d I miss?”
Korina clears her throat. “I’m going to draw the zombies away while the bus positions beside the museum’s door. Soon after the bus is in position, I should have the door open, and you all can go inside. Time will be tight, and I’ll be hurting.” Korina points to the medical supplies she and Jambavan brought with them. “Frank and my squire will handle the emergency gear. You need to get all the medical supplies inside—but the kids come first. Got it?”
He nods. “Sure, but I think I’m with umm, Jambavan? This sounds like a really bad idea.”
While Korina drinks some blood and gets herself ready to climb out through the roof hatch, Frank opens a storage panel on the floor of the bus. He reaches in and starts to remove the emergency equipment: a jug of , an emergency surgery med kit, five one-liter bottles filled with diesel, a flashlight, road flares, a bright-yellow crowbar, and a hunting rifle with three magazines. Jambavan moves it all out of the way and organizes it in the front seats while Frank replaces the panel on the floor.
Korina climbs on a seat and reaches for the hatch. “You ready?”
Frank nods. “Good luck, Captain.”
“Don’t forget to lock this behind me. Here I go.” Korina opens the hatch and climbs onto the roof.
About thirty zombies swarm the bus, and dozens roam all around. One spots her and rushes toward the bus. I guess it’s now or never.
She jumps off the bus, lands twenty feet away, and winces with the painful reminder that she broke a few ribs earlier that day. She groans, then yells, “Follow me you sorry bastards!” I could really use my bat right now... She runs in a widening loop around the side and back of the bus, peeling the zombies away from it on her way to the building. She shoves and punches zombies that are in her way, but she doesn’t spend the time to incapacitate them. If she did, other zombies would surround her and delay her mission.
As she runs past, zombies still manage to slow her: a bite on the arm and a ripped-at shoulder here, a tackle into her side and an almost knocking her to the ground there. She grits her teeth and pushes herself even harder.
Frank puts the bus in reverse. “Everybody sit down and hold tight! Stay clear of the windows, especially on the front right side!” He expertly steers the bus backward while accelerating, running over a few zombies and aiming the back-right corner of the bus toward the alcove.
He picks up speed. When the rear end is only feet away from the stone façade, he swerves the wheel and continues backward; the bus straightens out a few inches from the wall. He takes his foot off the gas, and with a final swerve of the wheel, he smashes the front right side of the bus—where the door and steps to the bus are—right into the alcove.
Glass shatters and rains inside the bus as chaperones cover the children with their arms and shield them with their bodies. The bus’s metal panels screech against the stone, and with Frank’s foot slammed on the brake, the bus grinds to a halt and settles into place.
The corner of the bus blocks the alcove from the zombies outside—for the most part—and beyond the bus’s door is the museum door that Korina is supposed to open from the inside.
But she’s not there, not yet, and the glass around the bus’s door is shattered. There are openings where zombies can get inside.
Charlie grabs hold of Sadie’s shoulders and pulls her toward him. “Sarra, calm down. Forget about the trunk.”
She shakes her head. “I’m supposed to guard…them.”
“I know, but right now there’s bigger problems, and you’re needed.”
She takes a deep breath. “The High Council... Mary said they wanted to groom me... Poor Mary.” She finds Charlie’s eyes. “What about Minnie and Skip? We don’t have enough information about their status.”
Charlie sighs. “I would say we should go get them, but you’ve already sent Captain Sarkis and Jambavan. Do we trust them? Or do we take care of things ourselves?”
Sadie takes his hands. “I’m not sure... But as it stands, Korina knows where the elders were headed, so even if the hotel is evacuated, she’ll know where to bring the kids when she gets them out.”
Charlie squeezes her hands. “What if she can’t get them out? Maybe I should go...”
“If you could handle it, do you think that she could? I mean, what could you, going now, do? She should have gotten there long ago.”
“I don’t know, dear, I just... We’re talking about Minnie...and Skip.”
“I know.” She sits down, then winces and stands back up. “Cazzo! This hurts. Get this shrapnel out of my ass, and let’s figure out how to get to the hospital.”
Charlie pulls a multitool from a pouch attached to his battle-pack. “So, we trust Captain Sarkis then?”
Sadie starts removing her leather bodysuit armor. “We don’t have a reason to go in. I tasked the acting guard commander to take care of it... I think we head to the hospital, secure the elders, and plan the next phase.”
“We can take the Jeep.”
Sadie grumbles. “No... I thought it would be a better idea to take it to the Pentagon, so... Well, it’s parked there.”
“Oh. Well it’s not far, I bet
we could get dropped off.” He pulls a twisted piece of shrapnel out of her backside.
She grits her teeth. -UGH!- She takes a breath. “Woooo... I’d feel better with the Jeep. It shouldn’t take too long to grab it.” She remembers seeing Skip’s keys on the floor of the living room. “And if the bus did drop everyone off here for some dumb reason, Skip would have his truck. That’d make me feel SHITBALLS FUCKER! ...Damn, that one hurt.”
Charlie drops another bloody piece of ventilation ducting on the bed’s gray blanket. “Sorry. Alright, maybe Jules could run us to the Jeep… We should probably tell her about the trunk being stolen, too.”
“Okay.” I must recover those arm—
“Babe?”
“What?”
“This next one is gonna suck.”
She takes a breath. “Okay, just get it over-AHHH!”
Zombies still bash and bang on the outside of the bus, and inside, the chaperones have the kids ready to go. Jambavan paces in the front, waiting for his knight to open the museum’s door. Frank continues to try the radio, but interference cuts through all the channels. Skip has the rifle slung over his back on one shoulder, the fabric bag Sadie sent for Minnie and the large med kit slung over the other shoulder, and his hands ready to lift more gear.
The vampires’ nostrils are filled with the scent of nervous sweating inside the bus, and their ears are filled with the cacophony of groans and screams coming from outside. The window beside the driver’s seat is hit with something hard, and it cracks. Again, the kids scream out. Jambavan rushes to inspect the window. It’s holding, for now. And they haven’t found the gaps by the door. He continues pacing.
Katlyn turns and reaches her arm around Skip’s waist. She shivers a little. He rubs her upper arm and tries to think of something reassuring to say, but he can’t.
Outside the bus’s door, inside the stone alcove, the door to the museum is shoved open. Jambavan immediately gleams, but then his face turns to shock. Korina leans on the door, bloodied and barely able to stand, one hand reached across and holding her side.