by M. Lorrox
Gabriel, Fenix, and Balena—all Knights of the Order—along with their Special Forces soldiers, fight their way south down the Blue and Yellow Lines from the Pentagon. The first station they come to is the Pentagon City Metro station, where National Guard soldiers on the street have kept the zombies from breaching to the surface.
Gabriel, a tall knight who fights with a ten-foot spear, lunges forward and stabs through the neck of the last zombie in the station. The body drops, but the spear remains motionless. Then, Gabriel stands and slams the butt end of the spear down on the ground. “HOLD!”
Fenix wipes the blood from his Kris sword, a weapon whose blade is designed to look like a serpent’s tail or a wisp or flame with back-and-forth curves from hilt to tip. He motions with his chin, extending his pointy beard down the tunnel. “I can see zombies ahead. Why are we stopping?”
Balena, both a knight and a Navy SEAL, switches mags on the UMP submachine gun she borrowed from the Pentagon Force Protection Agency. She gets Gabriel’s attention. “Want me to run up and pull recruits?”
Gabriel nods at her and smiles. “Otherwise those soldiers above might get bored, and that would be a shame.”
Fenix sheaths his sword and stretches his arms behind his back. “I suppose the more the merrier.”
After a few minutes, Balena returns underground with a dozen National Guard troops in tow, led by a sergeant named Kelly. She speaks over her shoulder as she steps over dead zombies. “Alright, Kelly, you and your boys are on me. We’ll take up the rear.” She motions with her chin to the rest of the platoon, who have been waiting for her to return. “My old squad, split up and join with Gabriel and Fenix.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Sergeant Kelly, who is a high school history teacher when not on duty, is having the best day of his life. He turns to his soldiers. “Give me a double row formation, we’ll take turns firing. Soldiers in the back will watch the rear.”
Johnston, one of the Green Berets in Balena’s old squad, rolls his eyes. At least I don’t have to babysit ground pounders.
Gabriel motions down the tunnel and swivels the long spear into fighting position. “Forward!”
After fifteen minutes, they reach Crystal City Metro station, where Balena collects another dozen National Guard troops from the street. Johnston, the Green Beret from Balena’s old squad, leans over to Gabriel. “Why are we messing around collecting weekend warriors? We’re doing fine. We don’t need them.”
Gabriel turns to face him and scowls. “You may be a great warrior, Johnston, and more experienced than they are, but they are putting their lives on the line, exactly as you are, so you will respect them. Besides, we can always use more allies than less.”
Johnston swallows. “Sorry, uh…sir…?”
“What?”
“Nothing. I’m sorry.” Is he a guy? Why can’t I tell?
“Calling me sir is fine. Now fall in.”
“Yes, sir.”
Before the platoon of three vampire knights, twelve Special Forces soldiers, and twenty-four National Guard troops reach the next metro station, the tunnel opens onto the ground while the rails continue. Outside, there are no fences, and any zombies that came this way earlier are now roaming free.
Gabriel sighs while looking out into the sunlight. “Anybody know where we are?”
Sergeant Kelly, the national guardsman that joined the platoon at the Pentagon City Metro station, steps forward. “I do, just east of our position is Reagan National Airport… I think that’s one of its parking structures there. West and south of our position are residential areas.”
Balena steps out of the tunnel, into the light, and turns to Gabriel. “Mind if I take charge?”
“By all means.”
“Listen up! All flights should be grounded, so clearing the airport is a low priority. They’ve also got their own security, and if somebody had brains, the National Guard was deployed there too, so they’ll just have to handle themselves. The homes around us, however, are vulnerable.”
She does some quick math and nods. “We’re breaking into new three platoons; mine, Gabriel’s, and Fenix’s. Green Berets, I want you to regroup with your original knights—and congratulations, you’re now squad leaders. I want two National Guardsmen per Green Beret. My platoon heads south. Fenix, you lead a platoon to the west, and Gabriel take yours southwest. Kill zombies—protect people. Any questions?”
Sergeant Kelly steps forward. “This is highly unorthodox, I mean, my commanding officer didn’t okay this, only that I take my men with you to assist. I’m not sure what the best course of action is.”
As Balena nods in understanding, Johnston clears his throat and walks up to the sergeant’s side. “Well, soldier, sometimes you have to make calls on your own. That’s part of being a leader.” Are you up for this?
Kelly nods in response. “Okay… We’re in. I’m with you.”
Johnston smiles. Alright then.
Gabriel swigs blood from a canteen, then hands it over to Fenix. “Thirsty?”
“Always.” He takes the canteen, takes a sip, and then extends it toward Balena.
She shakes her head. “Just had some. You have your orders, now move out!”
Eddy leads his parents to the room Nurse Jacqueline said June is in, 1447. He stops at the door. “This is it.”
Sadie puts her hand on his shoulder. “We’re here with you, go on in.”
Inside, June is laying on a bed, covered up to her neck in a sheet. One arm is laid outside the sheet and rests on top of it—an IV needle is inserted into a vein. Eddy walks over to her and takes her hand. It’s cold.
The bag of blood hooked up to the IV is empty, and Sadie notices that a few bags are set waiting on a table nearby. She takes a bag, figures out how it attaches, and hooks it up.
Charlie walks to the foot of the bed. He starts to wonder why they’re bothering with an IV at all, but then he looks at June’s face, and he can see her skin looking a little less dehydrated. He nods to himself.
Eddy bends down and kisses her hand. He starts to cry.
Tears flow from Sadie’s and Charlie’s eyes as well. They step alongside Eddy and each place a hand on his shoulder.
Sadie looks at June’s face and head. A pattern of dry, circular wounds ring her shaved scalp. Around her neck is the necklace June always wears, the one her grandfather gave her years ago. Looking only at the beaded necklace, Sadie sighs with the realization that it’s the only thing that is unmistakably “June.” The rest of her is a mere fragment of her old self. Sadie closes her eyes. Those monsters. They will pay for this!
Eddy rubs June’s hand. “This isn’t fair.”
Charlie squeezes his shoulder. “No, it’s not.”
“She didn’t deserve this. How could they? How could they do this to her?” Eddy’s voice becomes breathier and deeper. “This. Isn’t. Right.”
Sadie glances at Charlie. “Melgaard won’t get away with this, will he?”
Charlie snarls his lip. “He will pay with his life.”
Eddy wipes his eyes with the back of his hand. “What happens now? To June?”
Sadie’s stomach flips. She sucks on her lip for a moment. “Just this. We keep her on the IV, and we wait for Skip. He will need time with her.” And it will be better if she looks more alive.
Fresh tears break from Eddy’s eyes, and he sets June’s hand down. He closes his eyes and rubs the top of her hand, one last time. “I have to go.” He turns and rushes out the door.
Charlie reaches and takes Sadie into his arms. “We’ll make it through this.”
She nods and rubs her cheek against his head.
Outside the room, Charlie and Sadie find Eddy leaning against the opposite wall, staring. He clears his throat. “What’s the situation with Skip and Minnie?”
Sadie raises a finger and looks at Charlie. “Fill him in? I’ve got to deal with this Council thing.”
He nods, and Sadie gives Eddy a hug. Then she walks off.
Charlie ca
lls Eddy to walk with him down the hall. “Your mom sent Captain Sarkis and her squire, Jambavan, into DC to guard the tour group.”
Eddy nods. “Yeah, I was there.”
“Oh. Well, that’s how it stands. We haven’t had any contact, and your mom and I decided that without more information, it wasn’t the best plan to go in as well.”
Eddy shrugs. “Okay, but what’s the plan? They’ll return to the hotel?”
“Maybe briefly, but most likely Captain Sarkis will bring the kids here. By the way, our hotel was ransacked, and your mom’s trunk was stolen. Any idea who might have done that?”
Eddy’s eyes explode open. “Yeah, well, maybe... I dunno.”
“Spit it out.”
Eddy’s hand finds his bag, but before he reaches in, he looks around in the hallway. There’s a pair of nurses and a doctor arguing at one end. Eddy motions his dad around a corner, then he points to a room. “When we did the roster, this was empty.”
Inside, it’s still empty. Eddy takes the ring out of the bag and shows Charlie. He whispers, “I found this in Sophia’s bag. I met with a man that studies our artifacts, and I think he put a tail on me, but I lost him in the metro. Maybe they broke into our room to try and get this?”
Charlie lifts the ring out of his son’s hand. Is it? ...Gods be damned. Charlie whispers, “Eddy, this is exactly what they were looking for, but now they’ve got something else.”
Eddy tilts his head. “Mom’s trunk? A bunch of old knick-knacks?”
Charlie grips the ring in his fist. “Listen, whoever took the trunk, now they’re really going to be after this... They won’t stop looking for it.”
Eddy glances around. “Do you think they’ll come here?”
Charlie half-nods and half-shrugs. “They’ll be… Eddy, who’s they? Who did you meet with?”
“A man in DC that Jambavan told me about, Lorenzo Bernardi.”
Figlio d’un cane! Charlie groans. “Goddamn it, Eddy. Bernardi’s slipperier than a hagfish and faster than a black mamba.”
Eddy shrugs. “I mean, I was slick and—”
“I’m sure you weren’t as slick as you think. Anyway, we need a plan; whoever took the trunk—and I’d bet it was that snake of a man—will come looking for this.” He holds up the ring in his fist.
Eddy swallows and leans closer, whispering more quietly, “Is it a piece of the Cardinal Vengeance?”
“No...and yes. It’s complicated.” He sighs. “C’mon, let’s catch your mom before she disappears into meetings and come up with a plan.”
On the third floor of the Smithsonian Institution Building, Harold guides each elevator full of children and chaperones out, around a corner, and up a few steps into an ornately decorated room with a huge, round table. Striped fabric chairs and portraits of the past secretaries of the Smithsonian Institution hug the walls, and at the opposite side of the room, large bay windows look out over a fanciful garden—one that is currently filled with zombies.
When Korina and the last of the group finally emerge on the third floor, Harold walks them into the room and welcomes them. “This is the Regent’s Room, where meetings of the board and so forth are held.”
Korina tests her hand in the light from a window. Definitely has UV film or something on it—good ol’ Smithson must have made sure of that. She turns back to Harold. “Where are we exactly, in the castle?”
“We’re inside the South Tower. Out the windows on the sides you can see the grounds, and those few steps into this room are from the main section of the third floor.”
She looks past the steps, past where they turned from the elevator, and beyond is an even larger room. At that room’s far side, a bunch of furniture is piled against a set of double doors. She motions to the doors. “Barricaded?”
Harold nods, then a girl wearing glasses and a sundress walks into view from somewhere in that large room with the barricade. “Oh.” Harold waves the girl over. “This is Carrie, she’s one of our summer interns. A lot of our offices are up here.”
Carrie steps forward holding a croquet mallet. “Hi.”
Minnie, who rides in Skip’s arms, waves.
Carrie glances through the entryway, past Harold and Korina, into the Regent’s Room. “Mr. Rhone? Where did these people come from?”
Harold shakes his head. “I’ll explain later. Where is everyone?”
“In the library.”
He nods.
Skip extends Minnie out to Katlyn. He raises his eyebrows—asking his new girlfriend—and she grabs hold of Minnie. He walks over to Harold. “It’s very nice to be so welcomed here, but I have to ask, how good are your defenses? Can you show me and the knigh—uh, my friends, around to the various entry points?”
Harold nods at Skip and turns with the blunderbuss over his shoulder. “Right this way.”
Korina waves her hand. “Skip, I’m going to rest. Jambavan, go with him. Everyone else, please don’t wander.”
Harold leads Skip and Jambavan back to the elevator, where a fire escape diagram hangs on the wall. “Stairwells are right behind us, here—” He points to a large door, right across from the elevator. “But it’s locked below. Also, there are stairs in the East Wing which connects to the main building here, but that area isn’t public facing, and they’re past locked doors and security stations on the main floor. The problem is here—” He plants his finger on the middle of the map at the edge of a large rotunda. He turns and motions to the big room with the barricade. “Right there. Those double doors lead to stairwells that connect to the main floor, and also up to the floor above us. We’ve barricaded the doors on every floor that has doors, but the main floor doesn’t, and that’s where the zombies are. So far, the barricades are holding.”
Skip looks at Jambavan. “Thoughts?”
“I’d like to check the barricaded doors.”
“Certainly, after you.” Harold extends his free arm toward the rotunda. They walk through a short hallway, then into the octagon-shaped room with a pair of hallways that enter the room at odd angles; one diagonal to their left, and one straight out on their right. The double doors immediately in front of them shake as zombies on the other side push against them, but a massive amount of antique furniture blocks the doors from opening.
Jambavan tries to find a crack in the doors to peer through, but there isn’t one. He grabs some furniture and tests the barricade. Huh, these old things are heavier than they look. He turns to Skip. “It seems strong.”
Skip nods and then something catches the corner of his eye. A large display case along one of the octagonal walls holds a long, metal, ornamental...something. He walks over to investigate. The object is between two and three feet long, and it has a shiny silver shaft and a gold spiral running its length. At the top of the silver and gold shaft is a metal globe, then a series of metal shields alternate along the column, then at the very end, a brass lion holds a stylized golden sun. “What is that?”
Harold glances. “That’s the Smithsonian Institution Ceremonial Mace.”
-RRANTTEL, RRANNTEL-
Everyone turns and looks at the barricade. It shakes harder. The kids fifty feet away in the Regent’s Room hug closer to the chaperones. Jambavan shakes his head. “They are so aggressive, it’s crazy.”
-RRANTTEL, RRANNTEL-
I should have searched Sofia’s bag before I gave it to Eddy… Why the hell did she have the ring? She either lifted it or it was passed to her—there’s no other way. And if it was in her family, that would make her a Habsburg... I wonder if the Elder Habsburg convened in DC. Sadie would know them. And their treasure fell into Eddy’s hands… What are the odds? Just then, Charlie notices Sadie leaving a hospital room. “Oh, dear…?”
She turns to Charlie, then glances at Eddy walking swiftly behind him to keep up. Behind them, a nurse is running. “What’s happened?”
The nurse passes them and continues on. Charlie clears his throat and grabs onto Sadie’s arm, pulling her with him. When she steps
alongside him, he lets go, and he leads her back into Eddy and Enrique’s room.
Inside, Sadie clears her throat.
Charlie checks to see who else is in the room.
“Hello.” Enrique waves, then aims the remote to turn off the TV.
“Enrique, turn it up.” Charlie turns to Sadie and speaks quietly. “Sorry about the hall, but there’s a situation. Eddy has been busy this week.” He holds open his hand and shows her the ancient, reddish colored gold ring Eddy found in Sophia’s bag.
Sadie shakes her head. “That… That can’t be.”
“I think it is, and Eddy met with a man in DC… Lorenzo Bernardi.”
Sadie closes her eyes and sighs.
Eddy steps forward. “I didn’t even tell him I had—”
“Quiet, and be vague.” Charlie frowns.
Eddy swallows. “I didn’t tell him I had…this. I just was asking him questions about a legend that Sky, one of the squires, had told me about. I think he tried to have me followed. I ditched the tail, but he knew my name.”
Charlie closes his fist around the ring. “He probably ransacked our room to find this, but instead...”
Sadie shakes her head. “God fucking damn it!”
Eddy watches his mom. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t think I was doing anything dangerous, I just was asking the guy questions.”
She frowns at Eddy. “It seems that way, but…well, you didn’t know any better. That has always been a better tactic; the lesser known, the lesser lie required.”
“Lesser known about what? The legend? Is it real?”
Enrique tries to keep up, but he’s beyond confused.
Sadie shakes her head. “There’s no time right now, and not here, but—” She looks at Charlie. “This isn’t good. Bernardi is going to keep looking for that.”
Charlie nods. “Exactly. We need a plan.”
She nods. “Agreed. Make one. I have to go.” She steps away without another word.