by P. T. Hylton
Firefly took her hand, and she pulled him to his feet. He clapped her on the back. “That was a hell of a move, Goddard. Glad you’re on our side.”
Alex smiled at him. “Back at ya.” She looked toward the weights and saw Drew and Owl staring at her. “You know, those weights work better if you lift them.”
Owl grinned. “Drew was just thinking he’s glad that wasn’t him facing you on the mat.”
“Damn right about that.” Drew went back to his weights. He knew better than to face Alex, even though he outweighed her by sixty pounds and had four inches on her.
Alex noticed CB standing in the corner, his arms crossed. How long had he been watching?
“What’s up, CB?” Alex asked. “Miss us so much you had to come visit?”
“Not exactly.” CB’s face was a mask of seriousness. He was here on business.
“Don’t keep us in suspense, Captain,” Drew said.
CB nodded. “I hope you don’t have any big plans tomorrow. We’re going down to the surface. It’s not going to be an easy mission. There’s a good possibility of contact.”
Alex’s pulse instantly increased, and she couldn’t hide her smile. Contact on the surface meant only one thing: vampires.
***
The entire Ground Mission Team met in CB’s quarters that evening for dinner.
There were only six actives members of them on the team, and all of them were there tonight: CB, Alex, Drew, Owl, Lincoln Simmons, and Rodney “Firefly” Holland.
Firefly was in the kitchen, preparing the food. He was the second oldest member of the team after CB, in his late 30s. He was also the team’s demolitions expert. Sometimes Alex thought maybe he liked blowing things up a little too much, but he mostly kept to himself. He was also a surprisingly good cook. Tonight’s menu included Pad Thai, a lovely soup, and some beautiful cupcakes for dessert. The cupcakes were adorned with crudely formed frosting vampires, their faces stained red with what Alex imagined was supposed to be blood.
CB, Alex, Drew, Owl, and Simmons sat at the table playing an overly complicated card game called Wishing Well. Alex still wasn’t sure she fully understood the rules, and she was struggling to keep up with the conversation and the game at the same time.
“The thing that makes this job tricky is the lack of good intel,” CB said. “Based on old military records, we believe the motors we’re looking for are inside an old factory.”
Simmons looked up from his cards and raised an eyebrow. “Inside?”
CB nodded.
Simmons whistled softly. Alex could tell he was trying to look concerned, but she could see it in his eyes that he was as excited as the rest of them at the prospect of entering an old building. Buildings provided shelter from the sun. Which meant vampires.
A wide smile broke out across Drew’s face. “It’s about time. I haven’t gotten to decapitate one of those undead bastards in what, six months?”
Simmons ran a hand through his perfect hair. “Don’t get your hopes up, buddy. By the time you get there, I’ll have the place as clean as the latrines Alex has been scrubbing.” He was in charge of recon for the GMT, which meant he’d be the first one sent in to scout out any dangerous situation. He was also stealthy enough that he’d made it out of every one of them so far.
“You ask me, you all are crazy,” Owl said. “You fools actually want to face vampires?”
Drew laughed. “Why else join the GMT?” He looked at the table and frowned. “Your play, Alex.”
Alex flipped through the dozen cards in her hand, trying to make sense of the eight suites. “Sorry, one sec.” Finally, she plucked out a card almost at random, the six of keys, and tossed it on the pile on the table.
Everyone groaned.
“Seriously, Alex?” CB said. “Why the hell would you play a key?”
Alex kept her face blank, hoping they’d believe the play was part of some grand strategy. Simmons shot her a quick smile that said he was onto her.
Owl shook her head in mock pity. “All I know is I’m going to be sitting in the rover, feet up on the dashboard tomorrow, while you fools are getting killed.”
“Spoken like a true pilot,” Alex said. “So what do we need these motors for anyway, CB?”
The captain chuckled. “Something about the heating system. Hell if I know. Ours is not to question why—”
“Just to be prepared to die,” the rest of the team finished.
The tongue-in-cheek mantra was the closest the GMT had to an unofficial motto.
“Yeah, yeah,” Alex said. “Might be nice if they told us the actual need. We might find something else down there that would solve the problem.”
“Keep dreaming,” Owl said.
CB laid down a nine of clouds, and Drew, Simmons, and Owl groaned again. “And that, my friends, is how the game is won,” he said.
“See, Alex, that’s why you never play a key when the next player is showing a staggered straight,” Owl said.
“Right. Guess I forgot.”
CB slapped Alex on the shoulder. “Admit it, you have no idea what Owl’s talking about.”
“Let’s just hope she’s quicker with her gun than she is with her cards,” Drew said.
“Quicker than you,” Alex said.
Firefly appeared in the doorway, four bowls of soup precariously balanced in his hands. “It won’t matter. This mission isn’t going to be any different than the others we’ve had lately. We won’t see any vampires.”
Drew cleared the cards off the table to make room for the food. “He’s probably right. We’ll be on the surface, inside dark buildings that haven’t been entered in over a hundred years. What could go wrong?”
***
After they’d finished the last surprisingly light and fluffy cupcake, the team decided to call it an early night. They needed to reconvene at oh five hundred hours, so everyone was anxious to get some shuteye.
Alex found herself taking the long way back to her room. She was doing everything she could to not get her hopes up. The last few missions had all held the possibility of a vampire encounter, but each had turned out to be a disappointment.
Not that it hadn’t been exciting. There was something strange and alien about standing on solid ground, of not feeling the familiar rumble of the ship beneath her feet. The smell of earth and vegetation. The way the air itself seemed to hum with life.
And the quiet. Haven was generally a loud place, with people always clambering around. But the Earth in daytime…it felt dead. As dead at the creatures that now ruled it.
Even though she’d only ever encountered three vampires, Alex had studied them obsessively, first in her GMT training and then on her own. She’d learned about their anatomy and their weaknesses—silver and sunlight. She’d learned how to kill them—decapitation was the surest and most highly recommended method, but destroying the heart with silver worked too. She’d watched videos and seen pictures. But she’d never killed one herself. The few she’d seen had been at a distance. Drew had taken out one of them, Simmons took the second, and CB killed the third.
Tomorrow, if everything happened as she hoped, that would change. It wasn’t that she wanted to be in a life-and-death fight exactly. She had no desire to die. But she’d trained the past two years for one purpose: to kill vampires. She wanted to put her hard-won skill set to use.
She wasn’t entirely surprised when she found herself standing in front of a door three floors up from her quarters. It was as if her feet had brought her here without her consent. Maybe that meant this was where she was supposed to be. She paused only a moment before knocking.
Simmons opened the door, dressed in the boxers and a tee shirt, apparently ready for bed. “Hey.”
“Hey. I was just out walking and—”
“You found yourself in my neighborhood.” There was no reason for her to be on this floor except to visit him, and they both knew it.”
“Listen, there’s no way I’m getting to sleep tonight unless I blow
off a little steam.” She tried on a coy smile. “Think you could help me with that?”
Simmons broke out in a grin. “I’m always ready to help out a teammate, Lieutenant Goddard. Get in here.”
Alex slipped inside, shutting the door behind her.
***
Sarah sat in Fleming’s living room, a glass tumbler containing a splash of whiskey in her hand. Whiskey was precious, a rarity and a status symbol, and Fleming must have been especially pleased to offer it to her.
He sat across from her, drinking from his substantially fuller glass.
Sarah followed suit, taking a small sip. She enjoyed the way it burned as it ran down her throat.
“They’ll be leaving in the morning,” she said. “Roll call’s at oh five hundred. Then they’ll gear up and head down.”
Fleming scratched his chin. “You checked the gear yourself?”
Sarah had already told him she had, but she didn’t take offense to the question. He was under a lot of pressure. “Yes. The gear’s ready.”
“Good.”
Sarah’s lips curled in a sly smile. “Be honest. How much did you have to do with making this mission happen?”
“That motor has been failing for months. Our man in Engineering just helped bring it to the attention of the right people.” He took another sip of whiskey before continuing. “We’re at a crucial point here, Sarah. The people are starting to realize the Council lives in fear. They’re out-of-touch fools too afraid of the old legends to fight for what’s ours. I’ve seen it up close. Anytime I bring up any proposal that challenges the idea that we should avoid contact with the surface, they immediately shoot me down. But if I have the people in my corner…”
Sarah leaned forward and gave Fleming a supportive smile. “You do. The people want to return to Earth. They just need a strong leader to show them it’s possible.”
“Not enough of them believe. Not yet. That’s why this mission is so critical. If something goes wrong, it could set us back years. But if it’s successful? If we’re able to demonstrate that the technology we have now is enough to keep people safe on Earth? We could win a lot of support.”
“Then what happens?” Sarah asked.
“The City Council will bend to the will of the people. They have to. Then we’ll resettle the Earth.”
Chapter 6
Alex arrived in the hangar to find her locker stocked with the gear she’d need for the mission. Brian and his crew in R&D had been busy. Firefly was standing in front of the locker next to her, quietly slipping into his chainmail suit. She saw his locker was stocked with explosives.
Simmons was three lockers down. Alex exchanged a glance with him, then quickly looked away. She couldn’t afford to be distracted. Not today.
She pulled her own chainmail suit out of the locker and stepped into it. Alex had to admit that the suit was one of Brian’s greatest creations. It was lightweight, formfitting, and, most importantly, made of silver composite. It went on under all the other gear and fit tight all the way to the top of the neck. The suit served a dual purpose. Any vampire who tried to bite a member of the GMT team would be in for a nasty surprise. The second purpose was one they didn’t talk about much but they all understood: if one of them were turned into a vampire, the silver would kill them before the transformation even had a chance to complete.
Alex wouldn’t have called the suit comfortable, but the peace of mind it provided was well worth the discomfort.
Then she put on the rest of her fatigues, her combat boots, her belt, and her vest. R&D had already loaded her vest with her two favorite knives and a pair of pistols.
She strapped the last piece of gear to her back—her favorite. A laser-etched composite steel sword, perfectly balanced. Alex spent as much time practicing with the sword as she did on the shooting range. Some of the others laughed at her for it. CB always said, “If you let the vampires get close enough to use a sword, you’ve already lost.”
Alex didn’t see it that way. Besides, even if it was a waste of time, the swordplay calmed her. The finely sharpened sword felt like an extension of her more than her other weapons.
She glanced around at the others gearing up. Just as Alex had her pistols, each of her teammates had their weapons of choice. Drew carried a shotgun modified to carry one hundred rounds and to fire spiraling slugs made of silver.
Simmons preferred to do his killing from a distance when possible. He carried a sniper rifle that could punch a two-foot hole in a brick wall.
CB was outfitted much like Alex—dual automatic pistols with one-hundred-round clips of silver bullets that fragmented on impact.
Owl was nowhere to be seen. She was probably in the ship running her diagnostics. She’d modified much of the ship herself, and she did as much of the maintenance on it as she could get away with. Owl seemed to have bonded emotionally with the ship in the way most people bonded with other humans. She’d taken it as an insult when CB had ordered her to train Simmons on how to operate the quirky vehicle in case something happened to her.
CB walked down the line of lockers, checking the status of his team. They each gave him a thumbs up to indicate their readiness. Except for Firefly, who gave him a middle finger instead. CB just chuckled. Alex knew the captain would allow such shenanigans here, but once they hit the surface, it was all business. Fooling around would not be tolerated. Nor would questioning orders.
When he’d checked the readiness of every team member, CB cleared his throat. “All right, GMT, let’s go down.”
***
The away ship raced across the sky, away from the sun and to the edge of dawn. The ride was quite different than the slow, steady rumble the citizens of New Haven were used to. This one was turbulent, loud, and anything but peaceful. To add to the cacophony, Owl insisted on narrating into their earpieces.
“We are now approaching the western coast of the area that was once the country of Argentina. We will be landing shortly in the city of Buenos Aires. The name translates as ‘good wind.’”
“You read a geography book,” Drew growled into his headset. “We get it.”
Owl ignored the jab. “Buenos Aires was once a major tourist destination, and it was the heart of a thriving economy. Notable residents included writer Jorge Luis Borges, Pope Francis, and composer Gustavo Cerati.”
“Ten bucks says she doesn’t know who any of those people are,” Alex said.
Simmons and Drew both laughed. CB remained stoic, and Firefly was overly interested in the detonator in his hand.
Alex frowned. “Should he be playing with that on the ship?”
Firefly grinned at her from across the aisle. “Probably not.”
Alex tugged at the restraints securing her to the seat, trying to get comfortable. After a lifetime spent walking freely around an airship, she’d never get used to being strapped to a chair.
The seats on the ship were lined along either side, two rows of seats facing each other. There was seating for up to ten, though the GMT had never had that many members.
After a brief respite, Owl resumed talking in their headsets. “We’ll be setting down in what was once the barrio of Parque Patricios in the south part of the city. This neighborhood once housed the city government. If you have time for any sightseeing, I recommend The Monument to the Victim of the 1871 Yellow Fever Epidemic, which is surprisingly intact.”
“That’s enough, Lieutenant Fowler.” CB’s voice was calm but firm. He’d shifted into business mode. “Just set us down in the right spot.”
“Roger, Captain,” Owl said, her voice still filled with cheeriness.
Drew elbowed Alex and pointed out the window. “You see that?”
To the east, the sky was alive with color. Reds, oranges, purples. Sunrise. It was truly a sight to behold. The constant blue sky New Haven flew under was pretty too, in its way. But this was one of the true pleasures of being part of the GMT. They were the only residents of New Haven who ever saw the sunrise.
Alex g
lanced at Drew. He’d been on the GMT for ten years, and he’d been on times more missions than she had. “You ever get used to seeing that?”
Drew shook his head slowly, his gaze fixed out the window. “Not yet.”
Owl’s voice crackled again in their headsets. “Lady and gentlemen, we are on track to touch down in three minutes. Prepare for landing.”
Alex took a deep breath and caressed her sword.
***
Owl set the ship down in a clearing twenty yards from the factory. As they exited the ship, CB glanced at his watch. It was 6:12 a.m. New Haven time. Technically they had about thirteen hours until sunset, but the goal here was to complete this job in four hours or less, then reconvene as New Haven passed over their location. If they were running a little behind, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Owl’s ship was faster and could catch up, but it also had limited range. If they got more than an hour or two behind New Haven, they’d have to hide out down on the surface and wait for the ship to pass again the following day.
A night spent on Earth? CB shuddered at the thought.
But there was really no reason to worry. This should be a fairly simple salvage job. Assuming everything went well.
Outside the ship, CB held up a hand to stop the team. He looked around, taking in the streets and buildings around him. He tried to imagine what it must have been like one hundred and fifty years ago, before the vampires. The streets would have been bustling with people, just like the streets of New Haven were today. Now the buildings were dilapidated, and the city had been reclaimed by nature. Trees grew up through the busted pavement. The vines and moss covered the buildings like a web; nothing in his sightline was free of plant life. City locations like this always made him a little edgy.
He shook off the thought and tried to focus.
“We’re going to take this nice and slow,” he said. “If there are any vamps in that factory, they’re probably spending the day in dreamland, but we’re not going to take any chances.”
Simmons cocked his head to the side. “Wait, do vampires dream?”