by Ann Gimpel
“No one lived here in the winter,” Viktor countered. “The war only lasted a couple of months, and it’s been over since 1982. As I recall, Argentina didn’t exactly roll over and agree to British sovereignty, hence the barracks to house enough men to discourage further hostilities.”
“Winter,” Rowana prodded.
“Yeah, winter.” Viktor smothered a snort. “Thanks for the redirect. There used to be a skeleton force in the barracks and people to man the post office and museum during tourist season. That was about it. They all went home to the Falklands around April, so I’d be surprised if we found anyone here. Anyone alive, that is.”
Aura chewed her lower lip. “Mmph. Let’s see. The eclipse was in late November, which is the Antarctic summer, so the Cataclysm hit this part of the world when there were likely to be folk here.”
“True enough,” Viktor said. “We can hope for something beyond corpses, but it’s not likely.”
Karin frowned. “Maybe I should have brought the medical bag I cobbled together from supplies in the ship’s infirmary.”
“Nah.” Ketha shook her head. “If we find anyone and they’re in that bad a shape, we’ll haul them into the raft and—”
“Maybe.” Karin broke in. “The Cataclysm created isolated pockets of humanity. Whatever viruses and bacteria incubated where we were, we all developed the same immunity to them. That is not true about the place where we’re about to step out of this raft. Our Shifter magic will help, but it’s not a guarantee we’re protected from everything.”
“But I never had any problems,” Viktor protested. “And I’ve spent months on South Georgia Island. Hell, I spent three weeks here once when a bad series of storms blew through and it wasn’t safe to leave.”
“That was before the Cataclysm,” Karin said and turned to Ketha. “Feel like providing a microbiology lecture about mutation and natural selection?”
“Not right now,” Ketha replied, “but I’d be happy to do something like that later once we’re all back aboard Arkady.
Viktor swung the craft around so it’s stern end hit the beach. “I’ll get out,” he told the women, “and drag the raft ashore. Perch on the pontoon about where I am and time the waves. Wait until the tide is moving out before you jump down.”
“Before anyone goes anywhere,” Karin said, “exercise reasonable caution. Don’t touch anything. Don’t collect anything to bring back to the ship.”
“Don’t drink the water and don’t breathe the air,” Rowana muttered.
The lyrics from Tom Lehrer’s song, Pollution, struck Aura as humorous, and she laughed.
“I wasn’t trying to be funny,” Rowana looked askance at her.
“I know,” Aura said, “but I was thinking about the life we left behind. What you said reminded me of another aspect of it: music.”
Ketha followed Viktor’s direction and jumped off the pontoon, wading through the surf to shore. Aura and the other women followed her. All of them wore knee-high Wellington rubber boots. The ship’s mud room had been stocked with them and their waterproof jackets and bibs.
“Where to?” Aura asked Viktor once he’d tied off the raft’s anchor rope to some handy rocks.
“We should be methodical as long as we’re here,” he replied. “Maybe we’ll walk down to the barracks, check them out, and then make our way back this way.” His mouth twisted into a sad expression. “There used to be fur seals here. Lots of them. They’d block the road and bark at you, but I’m sure they’re all dead. They lived on fish and krill.”
“That way?” Aura pointed.
At Viktor’s nod, she set out along a rutted dirt road that hugged the shoreline. The ocean was only a few feet away, so close it must have washed over the road from time to time. She skirted an enormous hole. The track was wide enough, someone must have built it to accommodate vehicles. She passed a couple of crumbling buildings on her left. Rotting carcasses that had probably been seals and seabirds dotted the track, and she stepped over and around piles of them. Mostly bleached bones, they reminded her of Ushuaia’s streets before they’d cleaned them up.
Caught up in the simple joy of movement, something she hadn’t been able to indulge in on the ship, she breathed the chill salt air, drawing it deep into her lungs. The air in Ushuaia had become progressively more toxic, so she appreciated being able to breathe without assuming each breath brought her one step closer to her grave. She saw rows of tan buildings long before she reached them. From long habit, she sent her Shifter senses ranging wide. If anything was alive out there, she wanted to know about it before she got too close.
“Watch it!” Her cat was close to the surface, and a snarling hiss punctuated its words.
Aura ground to a halt. She’d pulled well ahead of everyone else with her long-legged stride. Viktor and Ketha strolled with their arms wrapped around each other as lovers often did, and Karen and Rowana brought up the rear, chatting.
“Watch what?” she asked her bond animal.
“I caught a whiff of wrongness. Check for yourself.”
“What is it?” Ketha pulled up next to her. “Why’d you stop?”
“My cat thinks something’s not right.”
Viktor slipped the rifle off his shoulder in a fast, fluid motion that spoke to his familiarity with it.
Aura shut her eyes, urging her senses to preternatural sharpness. Something unpleasant and eerily familiar zapped her. She curled her hands into fists and looked again. She had to be wrong.
Before she was through dissecting what she sensed lay beyond, perhaps in the barracks a couple hundred yards away, Ketha muttered, “Shit! It isn’t possible.”
Aura opened her eyes and gripped the other Shifter’s arm. “You picked up on Vampire emanations, right?”
Ketha nodded, her eyes wide with disbelief. “How can that be?”
“How can what be, dearie?” Rowana asked. She and Karin had finally caught up with them.
“I have no idea how,” Aura gritted out the words, “but Vampires are here.”
Karin narrowed her eyes to slits. “Don’t be ridiculous. They all died with the Cataclysm.”
“Or not.” Rowana twisted her face into a grimace.
“Check for yourself,” Ketha told the other two women.
Aura scrubbed the heels of her hands down her face, urging rational thought, and then she scanned the place that felt menacing one more time. “It’s not quite right for Vampire, at least not the Ushuaia variety,” she muttered.
“Not exactly,” Ketha agreed. “But there are at least two of whatever they are, and their emanations are closer to Vamp than anything else.”
“The question of the hour,” Viktor said, “is whether we move forward or retreat. That’s a group decision.”
Aura thought about it, and when she spoke her words came hard. “We left Ushuaia to figure out what was left in the rest of the world. If we turn tail and run the first time we encounter anything, we may as well have never set sail.”
Viktor grinned wryly. “Spoken like a true explorer. Shackleton would have been proud of you.”
“I remember him,” Aura muttered. “If this is Grytviken, isn’t he buried here?”
“He is, indeed,” Viktor said. “His grave is on the far side of the post office, but only because his wife told the ship with his remains to bring him back here. I guess he was quite the philanderer, and she wasn’t interested in footing the expense of bringing him home.”
“Interesting,” Aura said, “but we’re stalling. My vote is to see what the hell feels like Vampire.”
“Mine too,” Rowana said.
“I’m in,” Karin said. “If we could survive Armageddon against the Cataclysm, how hard could this be?”
Viktor cocked his head to one side. “Depends. If they’re Vamps, only beheading with iron will do them in.”
“Maybe they’ll be friendly.” Ketha screwed her face into what might have been a hopeful expression, except it looked more like a grimace.
“Friendly and
Vampire in the same sentence is an oxymoron,” Viktor said in a flat, dead tone. “It appears we’re all game, so all of you get behind me and stay close. Deploy your magic. It’s still far more finely honed than mine.” He shouldered the rifle. “If I have to, I’ll use this. It should at least slow them down.”
“Do we have any way to communicate with the ship?” Ketha asked.
Viktor slapped his forehead with an open palm. “Crap. It hasn’t been that long since I’ve ferried Zodiac rafts ashore. Hang on.” Reaching inside his insulated parka, he withdrew a two-way radio and depressed the push-to-talk switch.
“Juan. Come in.”
The radio crackled. “Juan here.”
“Possible Vampire sighting. Secure Arkady and come now.”
“Aw Jesus! Really?” Juan’s words held a strangled note. “I’ll drop the other decent raft into the water and bring Recco and Daide with me. Where are you?”
“By the barracks. Don’t waste your time stopping in the town.”
“Roger that. Be there in half an hour. Maybe less.”
“The iron saber is in the equipment locker. Bring it along and make damn sure it doesn’t puncture the raft.”
Juan chuckled. “Aye, aye, Captain. Your faith in me is touching.”
Viktor rolled his eyes. “By the time you get here, we’ll either be dead or turned or breaking bread with the bastards.”
More static. “You’re sure it’s Vamps and they’re alive?” Incredulity underscored Juan’s question.
“Affirmative on the alive part. See you soon.”
“Roger that. Over and out.”
The radio sputtered to silence. Viktor clicked it off and dropped it back inside his parka. “Let’s get moving.”
“Don’t you want to wait for Juan and them?” Aura asked.
He shook his head. “No. They’ll bring the Zodiac to the beach down there.” Viktor pointed at the barracks. “Vamps have ears like lynxes. They’ll hear an engine that close even over the roar of the surf. We need to be near enough to do some good once they figure out we’re here.”
Aura was still trying to make sense of how the demise of the Cataclysm could turn Vampires into Shifters in Ushuaia and leave them untouched a few hundred miles away. Maybe it had something to do with Karin’s mutation theory.
“Guess we’re about to find out,” she muttered.
“What was that?” Ketha asked.
“Nothing. I’m with Viktor. Let’s get this show on the road.”
Also by Ann Gimpel
Alphas in the Wild
Hello Darkness
Alpine Attraction
A Run For Her Money
Fire Moon
Bitter Harvest
Deceived
Coven Enforcers
Blood and Magic
Blood and Sorcery
Blood and Illusion
Demon Assassins
Witch's Bounty
Witch's Bane
Witches Rule
Dragon Lore
Highland Secrets
To Love A Highland Dragon
Dragon Maid
Dragon's Dare
Earth Reclaimed
Earth's Requiem
Earth's Blood
Earth's Hope
Earth Reclaimed Series
GenTech Rebellion
Winning Glory
Honor Bound
Claiming Charity
Loving Hope
Keeping Faith
Rubicon International
Garen
Lars
Soul Dance
Tarnished Beginnings
Tarnished Legacy
Tarnished Prophecy
Tarnished Journey
Underground Heat
Roman's Gold
Wolf Born
Blood Bond
Wolf Clan Shifters
Alice's Alphas
Megan's Mates
Sophie's Shifters
Standalone
Red Dawn
Marked by Fortune
Shadows in Time
Alphas in the Wild Collection
Midnight Magic
Underground Heat
Heart's Flame
Icy Passage
Warin's War
Shadow Play
Melis's Gambit
Rubicon International Series Bundle
Coven Enforcers Series
Edge of Night