The Claw Order (Fanghunters Book 4)

by Leo Romero

  And that would be when the shit truly hit the fan.

  He thought back to the incident on the streets with those tanks and the drop off. That whole thing stank of the Feds. Some Government crap for real. It was them who were supplying this stuff to the citizens. And for free. Gratis. Now, why would the overseers do that? Troy knew there wasn’t anything the Government did for nothing. What was their angle here? Jules mentioned a Kronos lorry. What the hell was Kronos? To Troy it sounded like corporate crap.

  He nodded to himself. Yeah, corporations and Government working hand-in-hand to get this stuff into the veins of the citizenry.

  And with the fall of the Bloods, who was in charge here, anyhow?

  Troy pulled the syringe away from his arm. On reflection, it might be best not to jab this stuff just yet, you know what with all the corporate and Government conspiracy stuff involved.

  If the Feds want me to take this stuff, then it’s gotta be bad for me somehow, Troy rationalized. He shoved the syringe into the pocket of his waist jacket and had another look around him. The heads were sprawled over the floor, some of them moving languidly to the music like they’d been given slo-mo pills. Troy wondered how many of these Ambrosia joints had popped up over Chicago; hell, over the States. If this Ambrosia stuff was super new (and it had to be cause it was the first he was hearing about it), then these types of places would be spreading. And as the Government were actually dropping the stuff off, they wanted these places to spread. The thought made him shiver. He wondered how long it would take for this stuff to be in the veins of every American citizen, and beyond that, every world citizen. And why would they want that anyway? Were they expecting some kind of pandemic and the Ambrosia was some sort of cure? Or was the pandemic inside the Ambrosia? He grabbed his head, the paranoia was too much.

  A loud scream tore both the atmosphere and the music in two. Troy’s head snapped around. He locked his stare on the Ambrosia head convulsing on the floorboards in the middle of the room. Some chick was by his side, panic scrawled all over her face, apparent even in her glazed over eyes. The guy on the ground was juddering and shaking like he’d ben strapped into the electric chair, his eyes rolled up into his head. The chick was looking up and around at some of the other less wasted heads who were making their way over. The music continued regardless, but even above it the shouts of ‘OD’ were audible. The guy continued with his convulsions and Troy just watched on, not moving an inch. Something wasn’t right. The guy was convulsing, but even from where Troy was, he was suddenly getting a tingling up and down his spine. His vamp detector had been switched on like a tap. What was that all about?

  The guy on the floor straightened and slumped down on the floorboards, his limbs sprawled. He became still. Everyone around watched on in stunned silence, the music still blasting. They hovered over his prone body like zombies, swaying from side-to-side in drunken arcs. Tears now streamed down the chick’s face and Troy knew that must’ve been her man that had just OD’d on the green slime. Troy pulled out the syringe from his waist jacket and stared at it. Man, what the hell is this stuff?

  The chick collapsed on the chest of her man, her juddering causing his body to spasm alongside her. Troy didn’t wanna be in there any more. The party buzz was well and truly dead with that little episode. A quick, discreet exit was in order. He got to his feet and went to leave, but couldn’t resist the urge to get a peek at what was going on over there. Some of the heads were so wasted, they were totally oblivious to the guy on the ground. Others just loitered like lemons. The chick carried on crying, and Troy didn’t wanna listen to her or the music any more. He straightened his waist jacket, then went to turn. As he did, he caught a glimpse of something that made him spin back the way he came. The OD’ing guy’s eyes snapped open. The crying chick met his stare and gasped; she froze as if turned to stone. As if iced.

  The OD’ing guy sat up like a jack-in-the-box, like he was being pulled by strings. He let out a brief hiss, before he opened up his jaw. Troy got a quick look at a pair of glistening fangs before they disappeared into the chick’s neck. Her eyes popped, just as a greedy suckling sound punctuated a brief bout of ambience in the otherwise loud music. The others all recoiled just as the chick’s eyes rolled into her head. The OD’ing guy carried on taking greedy sucks at her neck. When he was finally done, he bit down hard; a meaty crack rang out, making some of the heads run in panic. The chick went to scream, but all that came out was a liquid gurgle. Blood poured out of her mouth and down her chin, some of it getting on the guy’s forearm. He threw her away like a piece of trash and began licking her blood off his arm. The chick hit the floorboards with a thud, and chaos broke out.

  The OD’ing guy leaped to his feet, blood dribbling down his chin. He scowled at everyone around him, his fangs on display, his eyes brimming with bloodlust. He reached out and grabbed the nearest person by the arm. He pulled his victim into him and dug his fangs into his throat.

  Troy watched him in bewilderment. What the hell’s happened to this guy? Is he a vamp? Was he always a vamp? Why’s he acting so aggressive? Before he had a chance to answer the questions, a stampede ensued. People were desperate to escape the room, away from this maniac. Troy was shoved to the side as bodies bundled past in a panic.

  From the same doorway that people were fleeing, Jules barged in, his wide eyes taking everything in. “What the hell’s going on?” he boomed. He laid eyes on the OD’ing guy sucking on some other guy’s neck and he pulled a gun from his belt. The OD’ing guy saw him and threw his meat away. Jules didn’t hesitate; he pulled the trigger, hitting the OD’ing guy in the chest. OD’ing guy was sent back under the impact, but he didn’t drop. Instead, he soaked up the bullet like a sponge and thrust out his chest. He glowered at Jules, his arms out to the sides. Jules gave his gun a stupid stare. Before he had a chance to get another round off, OD’ing guy was on him, sinking his teeth into him.

  Troy burst into life. He didn’t wanna hang around and be this thing’s next meal. He jumped through the door and bombed down the corridor. Tommy was sprawled on the floor, trampled all over like a pancake. The locks of his door had all been torn off and the door hung open by just one hinge. Troy stepped over Tommy’s body, keeping an eye on him in case he suddenly sprang back into life and began pointing his shotgun again. No such worries though, he was either dead or totally unconscious; either way was good with Troy. He made it back into the alleyway, which was now a thin corridor of rain. Someone from behind shoved past him and he hit the alley wall with a grunt. “Hey, watch where you’re going!” Troy sneered.

  A frightened face turned back toward him. “Eat me!” it retorted before scampering along the wet alleyway.

  Troy realized he was better served getting the hell outta there instead of picking fights. Without looking back, he darted along the alleyway. Shit had gone crazy all over town. He had to get to somewhere dark and safe quick, and work out what to do from there. Chicago wasn’t a safe place any more.

  He made it to the end of the alley and out on the streets where the extent of the chaos hit him. The rain was coming down hard, the street beginning to flood again. There were clusters of people splashing around, fighting. Some were attacking others, trying to bury their heads in their necks. The victims were screaming, their shrill cries tearing the night in pieces. There were groans of hunger like it was the zombie apocalypse. Wild-eyed maniacs were chasing scared people, their open mouths full of newly evolved fangs. They’d turned full vamp and were looking for food.

  And at that moment, the whole thing became crystallized in Troy’s mind. The Ambrosia was turning people into vamps. He scanned his feet while he contemplated; they were submerged in water. The Ambrosia was venom, and it was metamorphosizing people into vampires, just like venom should, except at a crazy fast rate. Turning vamp took months if not years depending on the vamp’s venom potency and the victim’s susceptibility. But, this Ambrosia stuff, man, it was venom steroids.

  He barely had time to thin
k any further when a vamp raced right up to him, its arms outstretched. Its eyes were full of distant lunacy, spittle flying from its mouth as its jaws flew open. Troy was still meat to these things; and they were hungry.

  He threw up a protective forearm, using it as a shield. The vamp’s chin smacked into it full on, snapping its neck back. Troy kicked it in the groin, doubling it over. He didn’t hang around any longer. He turned and ran away from the main street where all the people were, hoping to find a secure spot where he could work out his next moves. Another sucker jumped out from behind a dumpster and went for him. Troy’s eyes widened. He threw out a fist, connecting with the vamp’s Adam’s apple. The vamp hit it with an ug! It staggered back the way it came.

  Troy grabbed the opportunity to race to the mouth of the street, hoping to disappear into a dark corner. He pulled up, stopping dead in his tracks. Lined up were a bunch of paramilitary cops in those tanks, their weapons of mass destruction in their hands at the ready. “Get back!” they yelled at him in mechanical voices. “Get back or you’ll be vaporized!”

  Troy’s eyes bulged. There was no way he wanted to be vaporized, that shit looked painful. And messy. At first, he couldn’t understand why the cops weren’t doing anything about the vamps, and instead wanted the chaos to go ahead unhindered.

  Order outta chaos; the mantra suddenly filtered into his mind from somewhere down below. This is what they want.

  Troy didn’t hang around any longer than he needed to. He reeled on his heels and dashed back the way he came, bodies flying left and right, hunger groans intertwined with screams filling the night air. He made it through the throng of madness and bolted down another street filled with clusters of people. The road itself was flooded and the sidewalk was swiftly following suit. Like a quarterback, Troy bent his head down low and thrust his shoulder forward. He steamed along the street, smashing through anything that got in his way. He roared out loud, shoulder barging a grappling couple into the road where they both fell in the water.

  Troy made it to the end of the street, where he turned and ran down the next. He looked up, his frantic eyes surveying the scene. There were more abandoned cars, more floods and more bodies—some vamps, some space cadets either running or loitering. At the end of the street was another line of cops; they were blocking the area off. What the hell was going on?

  Troy watched on in amazement as a crazed female vamp ran straight up to a cop. She grabbed the cop’s shoulders and jabbed her fangs into his exposed neck. The response was immediate. The cannon on one of those tanks spun around toward them both. By then, the cop was screaming hard, his colleagues backing off. The vamp feasted on their guy while they just watched on from behind their visors. The tank cannon sparked into life. There was a hot buzz and both the cop and the vamp began juddering in unison. In seconds, the cop burst open from the inside, splattering the vamp with gore. The vamp wasn’t going out the same way. The bolt of electricity or whatever they were firing couldn’t kill her; all it did was root her in place.

  They upped the intensity of the cannon fire; the buzz grew more intense. The vamp began juddering harder. But, the cops were dumb. The rain conducted the electrical charge of their weapon. It streamed around the nearby area, catching a few of the cops. Their backs straightened and they began juddering alongside the vamp. They all stood there rooted, electrified. Their teeth chattered like castanets.

  Troy had seen enough of dumb cops; he needed to get outta there. He looked around him in desperation, the rain lashing down. As he did, a snake slalomed through the water like a shark. Troy noticed it at the last second as it shot up, its fangs bared, ready to sink into Troy’s thigh. With a yelp, Troy managed to hop out of the way. The snake’s jaws clamped down on air; it hissed as it splashed back down into the water. Without hesitation, it sprang up again for another onslaught. Troy caught this one; he swung a foot right at it. He connected with the snake’s head, sending it flying across the street.

  “Goddamned snakes,” Troy groaned, watching it slither away in distress. “Had enough of you bastards to last me a lifetime.” He got moving again, racing down a side street, going back the way he came. He reached the end of the street and pulled up. A whole bunch of vamps were waiting there. On hearing him approach, they all turned in unison and faced him, their dark eyes on fire, their chests heaving, their mouths dribbling. They were hungry and food had just come their way. Troy spun away, but was being stalked from the back by more vamps. In an instant, he was encircled. The rain lashed down on everything, Troy, the vamps, the flooded street.

  Troy backed up against the wall behind him, his palms on display. “Hey, I know you guys are new to this and keen to get your first jabs in, but there’s much fresher meat than me on offer.”

  The vamps weren’t in any mood to listen. Instead, they prowled around him like vultures circling a fresh carcass. One of them hissed, and Troy knew that these particular vamps were way gone. They were the kind that were more like wolves, totally giving into their base desires, their minds lost in the haze of vampirism. “What happened to the good old days, huh?” Troy said to them all in a bizarre rant. “When vamps still kept their minds and could be rational.”

  They closed in further. Troy gulped. “Easy fellas. You won’t like me, even the snakes don’t like me. They let me go back in the Amazon. They were like ‘Nah. Meat no good.’ You should listen to them.”

  A vamp reached him; he shot out a hand and grabbed Troy’s throat. Troy’s back straightened. The vamp tilted Troy’s head to the side, exposing his throat. He opened up his jaws, and ran his tongue down his fang.

  And dived in for a bite.

  Troy screamed.

  An engine roar raided the atmosphere. A car tore around the corner, its grip on the flooded street lost. It crashed into a trashcan on the sidewalk, making everyone turn. The vamp holding Troy stopped midway toward his neck. He spun toward the car, his grip on Troy loosening. Troy freed himself from the vamp’s grip and backed up, just as the car’s engine roared once more. It accelerated down the street, slamming into the nearest vamp, sending it airborne. The car mowed down another couple on its way toward Troy.

  Troy’s eyes bulged as the car advanced on him. He threw his hands in the air, his jaw dropping in its headlights. But, instead of cutting through him too, the car skidded to a halt next to him, spraying him with water. Troy froze in fear. He blinked the water out of his eyes and rolled them down. He recoiled in fright; the muzzle of a shotgun was pointing his way. Behind it was a dark, diminutive figure, the huge gun in her grip making her look even smaller than she was. Beyond her, an empty seat in the back of the car was waiting.

  “Get in the car!” a shrill voice shouted from behind the gun.

  Troy didn’t need a second invitation.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  There was another girl sitting in the back seat of the car. Troy collapsed into the empty seat beside her, relieved to be off the crazy streets, only to have a gun jammed into his side.

  “Don’t say a word!” the girl sitting on his left ordered, poking her gun into him harder.

  Troy obeyed; he zipped up tight.

  The girl who first got out jumped back in, wedging Troy between her and her friend. She slammed the door shut and slapped the back of the driver’s seat ahead of her. “Get us outta here, Selena!” she shouted.

  Selena put the car into gear and shot off. All three of them in the back jerked under the abrupt momentum. The car raced through the flooded streets, making vicious swerves to avoid any abandoned/burned-out cars.

  Troy’s mind was in a whirl, his body was thrown this way and that like they were on dodgems. Selena braked hard and he smashed head-first into the back of the passenger seat. Selena made a sharp pull away and Troy was thrown against the rear seats once more, his head snapping back. “Goddamnit!” he raged, grabbing his aching nose. He was sandwiched between the two girls, who were wisely buckled in; their movements safely restricted.

  Nice of them to let me b
uckle in too.

  Troy spotted something out of the windshield; an Ambrosia zombie was loitering in the middle of the street. Selena gave him a warning honk, but he wasn’t home enough to hear. Instead of plowing the dude down, she swerved away from him and Troy was thrown over once more; he went with a wail, the gush of tires streaming through the water flooding his ears. He grabbed hold of both front seats and used them as stabilizers. He planted his ass into the seat further in an attempt to lock himself in to avoid any more unwanted head-banging. Now he moved in unison with the car as it twisted and turned through the backstreets of South Side. Troy noted that the driver was doing her best to dodge any of the main streets that may be blocked off by the cops and military; the girls had obviously mapped their way down and were now taking the twisting and turning route that allowed them to avoid any federal entanglements. The only problems were the nutjobs wandering the streets either hunting for Ambrosia or high on it.

  The car zoomed down another backstreet and Troy was thrown back into his seat once more. From where he was, he stared out of the windshield. His jaw dropped. The end of the street was blocked by cops. Their cars and tanks were stationed in a line, stopping anyone from escaping. Troy locked eyes on Selena. A smile crept up the side of her face.

  She pushed down on the gas.

  Troy’s worried eyes flicked from her to the line of cops, then back to her again. “Hey! Are you crazy?” he barked.

  “Certifiable!” Selena replied.

  The mechanical voice rang out. “Get back or you will be vaporized!”

  Selena picked up more speed; Troy was flung back again. He groaned. “Hey! They’re not BS’ing about vaporizing us!” he shouted at Selena. “I’ve seen em do it!”