by Justin Sloan
Garcia spared another glance at his friend.
“If the Colonel knew you’d gotten so relaxed in your old age he’d have your cajones in a jar, cabrón.”
“Fuck that,” Espinoza countered. “I’m about to ensure every one of you makes it back to New York without a scratch on you.”
Valerie smirked. “Good. I’d like to hear your plan.”
“Some of us don’t gotta worry about getting scratched,” Cammie commented from her vantage point. “Worry about your own hide.”
The man gave her a middle finger, but pulled it back at a look from Royland.
“So?” Valerie asked.
He motioned to the building. “This place used to connect to the city, right? I mean, it’s a train station with a subway connection, I’d think. Gotta be a way in underground.”
Valerie glanced at the group. “We’d be sitting ducks in there if they found us and made a move.”
Espinoza raised an eyebrow. “With you and your eyes? I doubt there’d be a chance of them catching us unawares.”
“What about the fact that the subways were blocked off over the years?” Diego interjected. “I mean, there’s bound to be a barrier in the way at some point.”
“Then we fucking move it,” Cammie interjected.
Diego laughed, then saw that she was serious. He shrugged.
“It’s settled then,” Valerie said. “It does make sense, actually. If we tried to make a move aboveground with a group like ours, we’d be bound to at least take a stray bullet.”
“A stray bullet or a thousand,” Arturo said, stepping up next to Micky. “I got a look at what’s out there. They’ve got a mighty big force, and they’re moving in to surround us.”
“You got any explosives on you?” Valerie asked Espinoza.
He nodded. “Not enough, but…oh, to blow the entrance to the subway?”
She nodded.
“We’d be trapped in there,” Diego countered. “If there isn’t another way out, we’d be sealing our own tomb.”
“You’re against the idea?” she asked. “Should we let them follow us down there?”
He scrunched his nose in thought, then shook his head. “No way.”
“Exactly.” She turned to Espinoza and nodded. “Let’s find this subway entrance and get the hell out of here.”
“Already found it,” Arturo noted, nodding to his left. “Problem is, the south side of their forces is blocking it. We’ll need a diversion.”
Valerie smiled. “Count on me. When I give the signal, it’s go-time.”
“And the signal will be?” Diego asked.
“A bunch of screaming from their side, followed by death.” With that she sprinted out of there, heading southwest, the direction Arturo had pointed her in.
“Well, that’s the plan then,” Diego said. “Everyone, get ready to move.”
“Everyone,” Espinoza said, turning to his men. “Get ready to move.”
“I just…said that.”
Espinoza smiled at Diego with a shrug. “My men, my orders.”
“You military types…” Diego just shook his head and went to check on Micky and the others, who had already started moving over to the far wall, preparing to evacuate.
“Everyone holding up?” he asked when he and Micky had settled down, looking outward and preparing for the signal.
“Me and mine, we’re used to this shit,” Micky replied. “The Badlands would be called the Goodlands if they were filled with pots of gold and rainbows. You know?”
“Cut the shit, Micky.”
Micky grinned, his large face transforming him from an intimidating ogre of a man to a friendly teddy bear with such a simple act.
“You aren’t wrong,” Cammie told Micky. “Sooner I can get out of here and never have to go into the Badlands again, the sooner I’ll be smiling for life.”
“Micky, your people,” Diego repeated. “How are they doing?”
“Hell, man. They’re doing fine, but the moment this is all behind us, I’ll be a happy camper. If there’s a real possibility for peace in this world? A city life with city comforts behind the walls of New York? Color me purple and call me Jane, because I’ll be mind-blown.”
Diego laughed. “It’s a deal, Jane.”
“Hey, none of that. You haven’t proven shit to me yet.”
“Tell you what, when we get in there we’re going to go straight to my wife’s place. She has a café, if you want to call it that. Wine, croissants… Oh, did I mention she came over from Old France? Yeah, woman knows her cheeses too.”
Micky pursed his lips, then nodded. “You’re selling me on this, and I’m buying. Maybe I’ll pick up myself one of those wife-women things while I’m at it.”
“Women things?” Diego chuckled. “Man, you talk like that in New York and some woman thing is going to bust your lip open. Shit, you do so around Valerie or my wife, you’ll be hanging from the tallest building by your balls. Just saying.”
“This some sort of Amazon-controlled woman rulership place? I didn’t sign up for that.”
“No, man. What I’m saying is it’s equal there. I don’t know how it is in the Badlands or back in El Diablo, but in New York, hell, most of the new world pretty soon I’d say, you gotta watch how you talk about women, and they gotta watch how they talk about us. Some chica says she’s going to get some meat sticks, I’m going to be offended just like these women would be offended if you say you’re going to a taco buffet. That’s what I mean.”
Micky tried not to laugh at that, but a small one escaped. “I get it, I get it. But the whole…tallest building thing?”
“An exaggeration…I hope. I’ve never tested it, and wouldn’t want to.”
“You and me both, my man.” Micky held out his hand for a fist bump, but Diego, unsure what to do there, shook it, earning him another laugh.
“The two of you’re having a damn good time,” Garcia said, walking over, “considering we’re about to run out into a possible barrage of bullets.”
“I’m not worried,” Diego replied with a shrug. “Val says she’s on it, she’s on it.”
Garcia nodded. “That chick—”
“That woman,” Micky said, correcting him and then turning to Diego, beaming and waiting for a nod of approval, which Diego gave.
“Right…” Garcia looked confused, but continued, “That woman is badass. Her and TH, I mean the Colonel, if they ever fight side-by-side? Fucking hold on to your socks, boys. I mean it—anyone tries to stand up to those two when they’re on the same side? Green eggs and ham.”
“I… I’m sorry,” Diego said, liking everything he’d just heard but being totally lost by the food reference.
“Oh, just something I say.” Garcia shrugged. “You know, enemy brains smeared on the wall like eggs, and… Oh, hell, I don’t know. I had this half a book cover growing up, put it on my wall like a poster. All it said was “Green Eggs and Ham,” so I kinda started saying that whenever I referred to someone getting the shit blasted out of them.”
“Weird, but that’s about the norm around here,” Diego said with a chuckle, and the other two laughed.
“I’ll second that,” Cammie said, “and serve as an example.”
Their laughter was cut short as a shot sounded, followed by screams in the night, another barrage of shots, an explosion, and then more screams.
It sent a chill down Diego’s spine along with instant images of his wife and child alone, without him, staring at his grave. Well, there wasn’t any way in hell he was going to let that happen, so he pushed his fear aside and stood.
“Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to sit here waiting forever?!”
“Hell no!” Garcia said through gritted teeth, and he and Micky stood with Diego, the rest of them following close behind as they led the charge out of there.
***
Valerie was one with the shadow, diving behind old ruins and leaping out to break a neck, then sinking into the trench behind the
men only to come up a moment later and tear into them with claws and teeth. She left the sword out of it this time so moonlight glinting on steel wouldn’t give her away. It wasn’t warrior time right now—it was horror time.
If ever there had been vampires like the stories of old, demons of the night, at this moment she was the embodiment of that evil. But she was on the side of the righteous, here to send fear into the hearts of those who would otherwise harm the innocent of New York.
A general aura of fear was now permeating the men and women there, who had scattered and were shooting randomly as they tried to find her between kills. It was like a fog that only she could see, one that didn’t obscure her vision but told her she was being successful.
From behind, where she had left her team, another type of emotion was strong—courage. She sensed it like a warm breeze on an otherwise cool night. She glanced back to see them on the move, small shapes keeping low as they ran to avoid being noticed.
The plan was working.
With a roar she came up on her prey, eyes glowing bright red in the night, and took one of them with her as she leaped into the air. Her goal was to make it appear as if she had flown, biting into him as they reached the peak of her jump and then dropping the body amongst his comrades.
The effect was instantaneous. Fighters scattered to the wind, not even bothering to try and shoot anymore.
All but a small group of them, now alone in the open—maybe twenty. Judging by their scent, the group was a mixture of Weres and Forsaken.
That didn’t worry her. What worried her was that now that the group had dispersed they had noticed her friends making a move for the subway behind her. The Weres and Forsaken split into several group of two to three and were working to get around Valerie.
“Fight me!” she shouted, charging the ones closest to her friends. They had no interest in her, though, at least not until she reached that trio and tore into one of the Weres even as he transformed, ripping his wolf head from his body and tossing it at one of the vampires.
That vampire stumbled over the head, but tossed it aside and kept running.
At this speed the groups were closing in on her friends. Garcia and Micky, with a couple others, were shooting back, and Diego had transformed, moving out to meet the attack.
Instead of trying to stop the enemy, she changed direction and went straight for Diego and the others so that she could stand with them in defense. The more of these bastards she could face at once, the better chance she had of killing them in large numbers.
“Get in there and blow the explosives!” she shouted to Garcia.
She spotted Espinoza, whose team was mostly prone, aiming at a trio and filling them full of holes.
“Not without you!” Espinoza shouted, rolling over to grab another magazine. “I’m running low!” he called and someone next to him tossed over another mag.
With a growl two Weres leaped for Valerie, teeth dangerously close to sinking into her. She spun, kicked one off, and came up with her sword drawn. She charged the closest and sliced it in two, then thrust the blade through the skull of the second.
“Do it now!” Valerie shouted. “That’s a fucking order!”
Garcia knew enough about Valerie to understand that when she swore—which wasn’t often—she meant business. He was already up and pulled Espinoza with him. The rest of the team followed.
“Go!” Valerie told Diego too, swinging for a vampire. He dodged and went for Garcia, but she pierced his leg and made him stumble back where Garcia finished him off. She shooed him away. “I’ll be right behind you!”
He hesitated, but then Cammie came charging through with Royland, tearing through more of the enemy as they cleared the route. Garcia turned to join the others as they disappeared down an old overgrown staircase.
Now all she had to do was defend the entrance instead of worrying about people getting shot.
A duo came from her left while a trio tried to get around her to make it to the staircase, but then she was among them, spinning and thrusting and slicing. This group had their own blades and they connected plenty of times, but never enough to cause her to pause or worry.
Limbs and heads flew and then another Were was on her, snarling as saliva dripped down his teeth. He knocked her over, snapping at her face.
“Gross,” she muttered between gritted teeth, then bit off his nasty moist nose and spat it out. As the wolf howled, she snatched out his larynx and tossed it aside.
Her hand went for her sword, but she had dropped it. When she reached for it, her blood-drenched hand couldn’t quite grip it. Grunting in frustration, she tore off part of her shirt and wrapped it around her hand, then reached for the sword again.
Another vampire hit her, driving his knife into her side and likely striking a kidney.
She growled, more out of anger than pain, and hit him with an elbow before turning to slice his face off, followed by two quick hacks at the neck.
“Get down here, Val!” Cammie shouted.
Instead she turned to take on another attacker, quickly bashing the female vampire’s head in with the pommel of her sword.
“Dammit,” now it was Royland, “get down here now or I’m coming back up to drag you down myself!”
Valerie hesitated now, considering. She knew none of them had the strength to overcome her, but she didn’t want any of them at risk—especially Diego. Sandra would eat her alive if she let Diego get hurt.
Without another thought she leaped backward, taking all the stairs at once, and shouted, “Blow it!”
Others cleared out and then there was Espinoza smiling like a boy about to let off a firework, and…
KA-BOOM!
They were all thrown down into the darkness along with a blast of debris as the explosion closed the entrance above. Only, as Valerie glanced around, she saw forms moving closer to the explosion, one of them putting out a small fire on its arm.
When they looked at her, she saw red eyes.
“Go!” she shouted to her friends. “Some of them made it down. Go!”
As she stood to fight, the vampires moved into side tunnels and passageways, splitting directions. She could take on the best, but she couldn’t be in more than onc place at a time. Instead of trying to go after them, she moved back to Garcia.
“Keep the group together,” she commanded. “If you see movement, tell me.”
Moving as one, everyone staying close with eyes searching the darkness in all directions and guns at the ready, they moved down the tunnel that had once been allowed commuters to reach Manhattan.
While Royland and Cammie served as point, they were also leading them in the extreme darkness. As long as they could hear him moving, they were good.
They were being hunted, and it pissed Valerie off.
But for the time being at least, there wasn’t much she could do about it.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
New York
Sandra was helping Clara to go over the hand-to-hand combat techniques she had learned in her time with the Forsaken in Old France. Clara had been a pirate and knew how to shoot and the basics of fighting, particularly when it came to keep someone off her, but she hadn’t ever been properly trained.
Not many of these people had, Sandra realized after a glance around her. They were watching, some starting to practice the blocks and counter-strikes on their own.
Well, that wouldn’t do.
“Everyone find a partner and try to imitate me,” Sandra said, and then waited for them to partner up.
“I promise,” Clara said while they waited, using the moment to stretch, “that if we ever have to use this, I’ll fight your attacker off before anyone else’s.”
Sandra nodded. “Normally I’d say I don’t need it, but yeah… Given the circumstances, I might take you up on that.”
The others were ready, so she had Clara come at her as if holding a knife, then demonstrated a simple move to disarm her. She stepped sideways and hit the arm with her left fore
arm, then grabbed and bent the arm in using her other hand so that the knife turned in on her opponent.
When she was done she had others try, and walked around giving pointers. “This might not help you if the fight comes today,” Sandra told them, “but if you keep practicing and someone comes at you tomorrow, the next day, or a week from now, who knows?”
“You really think this will go on for that long?” a boy asked.
She shook her head. “Once vampires and Weres are in the mix, no. These things tend to go a lot faster than they would otherwise when that happens.”
The room looked uneasy at that, so Sandra decided she had better be upfront about everything.
“Keep practicing,” she said, walking among the with her hands behind her back. “The fact is, vampires and Weres aren’t all bad. They are definitely not what you’ve heard about in your bedtime stories or whatever version you might have been told. They are simply modified humans. In fact, my husband is a Were.”
“Like he turns into a wolf?”
She laughed. “More like a cute little cat, but don’t tell him I said so.” That got her some chuckles, which helped the room relax. “The point is that you shouldn’t ever be scared about something just because of your preconceived notions. Fire kills. It burns. But it also cooks food and gives us light. You see?”
A couple of them nodded, and Sandra noticed the Were son in the back smiling her way. She hadn’t even thought about how he must feel in here, and had noticed him following her around a bit. Now she got it, as she smiled back. Down here she was one of the very few who knew what he was—who got him—to the extent that anyone could understand someone who’s a Were when you yourself weren’t.
She was considering going over to him when a commotion sounded in the hall. At first she took a defensive stance, considering their options, getaway routes, and fastest way to the weapons, but then she recognized the voice. Jackson.
He came around the corner with three large men following.