by P. T. Hylton
They’d set up work lights of the standard, non-Daylight variety. CB didn’t like putting a spotlight on them for any vampires that might be watching, but it was necessary for the delicate work at hand. They also set up work lights along the path between the control room and the stairwell, as well as in the stairwell itself, so floors G1 through G10 were all aglow in regular light. The Daylights were set up on every other floor, but were left off, only to be used in an emergency.
Solo vampires attacked three more times while they were working. Twice, in the control room. Alex dispatched one of these attackers with three bullets to the chest. Upon inspection, she was disappointed to see her shots weren’t as closely grouped at CB’s had been. Drew took care of the second attacker, once again inflicting auditory damage on his teammates by using his shotgun in close quarters. CB told him next time he had to bring a pistol, no matter how much he loved that damn shotgun.
The third attack had come in the stairwell. Alex had been in the control room, so she’d missed the excitement that time. The vampire had come up from below, adding more credence to Firefly’s theory that the vampires were holed up on G10. Simmons and Owl had heard the door open as soon as the vampire entered the stairwell and readied his rifle. He’d waited until the creature rounded the stairs and was only ten feet away before taking the thing’s head clean off with an explosive round.
As they worked, Alex noticed CB was unusually quiet. He was always serious when they were on the surface, but he was usually quick to bark orders and freely handed out reprimands to those who deserved it. This time he only spoke when absolutely necessary. It could have been just the nature of the task at hand, but Alex didn’t think so.
“You okay, Captain?” she asked him as they were preparing to carry another load of components to the rover. “You’ve been awfully quiet.”
CB grimaced. “Maybe I’m just paranoid, but there’s something off about the vampires in this place.”
“Nothing seems strange to me, sir,” Drew said, his voice strained under that weight of the panel he was carrying. “They keep attacking us like idiots, and we keep putting them down. Business as usual.”
“Yeah, but this place is huge.” CB’s brow creased as it always did when he was deep in thought. “We’ve put down, what, six of them? Remember how many were in the little factory in Buenos Aires? There should be hundreds here.”
Firefly came back in the control room, having returned from carrying a piece to the rover. “You really complaining about the lack of vampires, sir?”
“Not complaining. Speculating.”
“Maybe there just aren’t that many here. You said yourself the hordes move unpredictably, right? Maybe most of them have moved on.”
“Perhaps.” CB turned toward the remaining parts. There were two large components, plus a whole bunch of smaller parts. “We’ll be able to get these loaded in plenty of time, but we’ll have to come back for Reactor 2 if Jessica says she needs it. Let’s load out these bigger pieces and get them out of the way.”
It took two of them to haul each of the two large pieces. Alex and CB went first, carrying one, and Firefly and Drew followed with the second.
Owl groaned when she saw the first big piece come through the door. She and Simmons had just returned from taking a load back to the ship.
They loaded the two large pieces onto the rover. They just barely fit.
“How much more is there?” Owl said.
“Not a lot,” CB said. “A handful of smaller components. Altogether maybe half the size of one of these.”
“Still won’t fit in this load,” Simmons said.
Owl nodded her agreement. “We’ll take these topside while you gather up the rest.”
“Roger that,” CB said.
Firefly and Drew headed back to the control room. Alex and CB walked back up with the rover to make sure it made it back to the ground floor, providing cover since it would be difficult for them to fight while so loaded down.
When the rover was safely at ground level, CB and Alex headed back to G9.
“Can you imagine working down here?” CB asked as they reached the door to G9. “Spending your days surrounded by dirt and concrete?”
“No, sir,” Alex admitted. “I gotta wonder if they—”
A series of loud crashes came from both above and below them, cutting off her words.
“The hell is that?” Alex asked. “We cleared those…”
CB’s eyes widened. “The control room! Go!”
Alex darted through the door and sprinted toward the control room, CB close behind.
A cacophony of scurrying footsteps, grunting, hissing, and roars filled the air as a horde of vampires poured onto the stairwell and raced toward G9.
Chapter 25
General Craig and Councilman Stearns stood outside the interrogation room where Daniel Fleming was being held.
Craig was tired, and he felt numb from the morning’s events. He’d shot three people, which was three more than he’d shot in a very long time.
Stearns didn’t look much better than Craig felt.
“This is very bad, Isaiah,” Stearns said. “I thought I made myself clear. I wanted proof.”
“We don’t have it. Not yet.” He nodded toward the interrogation room. “But I expect he’ll talk if we put a little pressure on him. He’s a politician, after all, not a hardened criminal.”
“You assume there’s a difference.”
Craig chuckled. “Glad to see you still have your sense of humor, Councilman.”
“Just barely.” Stearns shook his head. “I wish he would have come quietly. This whole mess could have been avoided. Honestly, Isaiah, once the fighting started, you should have shot him. At least that would have ended it.”
“You really think so? You want to turn him into a martyr for his cause?”
“Cause? Please. They’re a bunch of malcontents looking to start trouble. Without a charismatic leader to follow, they’ll be back to making moonshine in their bathtubs and gambling away their paychecks by this weekend.”
General Craig wasn’t sure how to respond to that. It once again struck him that the Councilman might not fully understand the gravity of the situation. “Keller tells me crowds are already gathering in Sparrow’s Ridge. They’ll be protesting here within a couple of hours.”
“They just need some good news. Let’s hope your Ground Mission Team comes back with some.” Stearns looked past Craig and smiled. “Ah, speak of the devil! How is it out there, Captain?”
Captain Keller approached and greeted them both with a nod. “Not great, sir. The crowds are growing rapidly, as are the rumors. My badges are hearing people say the police busted into Fleming’s meeting and started executing people. They’re saying the general shot a dozen people himself.”
General Craig cursed softly.
“That’s not all,” Keller said. “People have noticed the Council’s inspectors weighing things in Engineering and Agriculture. Taking away some of the heavier items. They’re putting two and two together, and rumors are circulating that there’s something wrong with the ship.”
“We can’t catch a break,” Councilman Stearns said. “Enough of this doom and gloom talk,” Stearns said. “Get in there and see what you can get out of him. Meanwhile, I need to make an announcement. It’s time to tell the people the truth about the reactor.”
***
Craig and Keller sat down at the metal table across from Fleming. It was ten degrees warmer in here than in the rest of the ship, and beads of sweat stood out on Fleming’s forehead. He wasn’t restrained, but he did look smaller sitting in this room than he had when holding court in front of a roomful of supporters. He still had the familiar spark of intelligent defiance in his eye.
He looked long and hard at General Craig, so much so that the general began to wonder if the Councilman was going to attack him. That would be an incredibly stupid move. Though the general was thirty years Fleming’s senior, he still worked out eve
ry day, and he’d spent his life training to be a killer. He had no doubt he could make short work of the scrawny Councilman.
“Are you comfortable, Councilman Fleming?” Keller began.
Fleming answered without taking his eyes off the general. “No, not at all. Thank you for asking.”
“I was just checking,” Keller said. “This is our nicest room by quite a long shot. Depending on how this discussion progresses, things can become a bit more comfortable—we can ask that the climate be set to your requested temperature, for example—or they can get a whole lot worse. Again, it all hinges on this discussion. Something for you to keep in mind.”
“What exactly are you threatening, Captain Keller?”
Keller gave his sweetest, most innocent smile. “I’m not threatening anything, Councilman Fleming. I’m merely apprising you of your situation.” He set a file folder on the table and flipped it open. “I’d like to discuss the night of the fire in Engineering. I have quite a few questions for you, so please get comfortable.”
Fleming shook his head. “Before I answer anything, I want the general to tell me how Sarah’s doing. Is she alive?”
“In fairness, I was aiming for you.” The general’s low voice rumbled in the small room. “She was just dumb enough to think you were worth saving. In answer to your question, she’s alive. The doctors give her a fifty fifty shot of pulling through.”
Fleming squeezed his eyes shut. “Damn it. She’s a good woman. She doesn’t deserve this. Neither did the other people you shot.”
“They attacked officers of the law. That has consequences.”
Fleming opened his eyes and glared at Craig, his lips curled into a snarl. “You’re a murderer, Craig. A stone-cold killer who gunned down people just for trying to make the world a better place. Every fear I had, every nagging suspicion about the underlying corruption of this government, you confirmed it all when you pulled that trigger. This government would rather silence the voices of the people than listen to them.”
“Let’s get back to the topic at hand,” Keller said. “Where were you the night of the fire?”
“I was with Sarah and a few others. You can ask her about it when she wakes up.”
Keller sighed. “Okay, I’m just going ask you straight out, and we’ll go from there. Did you start the fire in Engineering?”
“No, I did not. Nor did I order anyone to do so. Nor did I even know about the fire until I heard the emergency broadcast about it.” He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “That’s all I have to say on the matter. I won’t say another word to you gentlemen except that, as a publicly elected official and a citizen of New Haven, I ask that you take me before a judge to publicly accuse me of a crime, or let me go.”
The general shook his head. “I understand, Fleming. Captain Keller and I are perfectly happy if you’d like to wait to make your statement. I think you’ll find we’re incredibly patient. We’ll go about our lives, do our jobs, spend time with our families. Meanwhile, you can wait in a cell. We’ll check back with you in a couple days to see if you’ve changed your mind.”
The general pushed back his chair, stood up, and left.
Chapter 26
Alex and CB raced through the hallways toward the control room. The floor shook with the movement of the horde of vampires.
Drew stuck his head out of the control room door as they got close. “Why the hell are—”
“Get inside!” CB screamed.
Drew did as he was told, and Alex and CB dashed into the control room. As soon as they were inside, CB slammed the door shut and locked it. Five seconds after it was closed, the first vampire slammed into it. Then a second. And a third.
The bangs continued as more and more vampires began pounding on the door. Soon creatures were banging on the walls, too.
“What the hell happened out there?” Drew said, shouting to be heard over the pounding.
“The vampires rushed us all at once,” CB said. “Dozens of them. Maybe a hundred. Hard to tell from just the sounds of them.”
Firefly looked stunned.
Drew gave CB and Alex a quick look up and down. “You guys okay?”
Alex understood what he was really asking. “No one’s bleeding. It wasn’t blood that drew them.”
“Then what did?” Drew asked.
“Nothing,” CB said. He spoke into his microphone. “Owl, Simmons, you read me?”
Simmons’s voice sounded in their ears. “We read you, Captain, but just barely over the background noise. What the hell’s going on down there?”
“A shit ton of vampires decided it was feeding time. We’re barricaded in the control room, and we should be safe for now. The exits are decidedly inaccessible at the moment, though. You two stay put. Get the equipment loaded on the ship and get it prepared for takeoff while we figure a way out of here.”
A long pause, then Simmons said, “Roger that, Captain. Let us know if we can do anything to help.”
After Simmons had signed off, Alex tried to gather her thoughts, but it was hard to think with all that pounding on the doors and the walls. She thought of Frank, the vampire on New Haven. She wondered if this was how he felt, locked in that steel box with his enemies just outside, just beyond his reach. If he felt at all. After over one hundred and fifty years of fighting them, there was still so little humanity knew about vampires. And the events of today were calling even what they thought they knew into question.
As if echoing her thoughts, Drew spoke up. “I don’t understand. The vampires somehow, what, decided to all hold off until the time was right and attack at the same moment?”
“Seems that way,” CB said. “It was a coordinated attack.”
“That’s impossible,” Firefly said. “Vampires are stupid animals. They can’t strategize. Right?”
“It would appear they can,” CB said.
“Hold on,” Drew said. “You guys are saying the vampires purposely cut us off from the rest of our team? That they all waited on G10 for the perfect moment?”
Alex thought about that, then shook her head. “They weren’t all on G10. They came from below and above.”
“They were on the above-ground levels?” Firefly asked.
CB ran a hand over the stubbly hair on his head. “Could be. But I’m thinking they were down here the whole time. I think they moved floor to floor, staying away from us until they were ready.”
“That’s impossible,” Firefly repeated.
The pounding on the door paused for a moment, then continued again in earnest.
“Is that door going to hold?” Alex asked.
“It’s steel,” CB said. “I think it’ll hold for now.”
Alex watched the way the door shook with each blow the vampires hit it with. She hoped the captain was right.
“So what’s the plan?” Drew said. “Do we wait them out? Hope they lose interest?”
“We’re going to be more proactive than that,” CB said. “Sundown is in two hours. When that happens, they’ll be able to tear through this door. You saw the holes in the walls upstairs. Those weren’t all caused by man-made weapons.”
A chill ran through Alex. She hadn’t considered that they were on such a tight clock here. She once again thought of Frank suffering endlessly inside his steel box while generations of humans waited patiently for him to die. “CB’s right. Besides, I doubt immortal creatures are going to lose interest in their first shot at a human meal in a century and a half.”
“So what do we do?” Firefly asked. Of all of them, he seemed the most stunned by this turn of events.
“We come up with a plan,” CB said. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not waiting around for sundown. If I’m going down, I’ll go down fighting.”
***
Simmons and Owl stood in the cargo hold of the ship. They’d followed CB’s instructions and secured the equipment. Owl had prepared the ship for takeoff. They’d gone about their work methodically, professionals unshaken by their te
ammates’ situation. Now that there was no more work to do, they were altogether less calm.
Simmons’s stomach clenched as he thought about his teammates trapped down there. Of Alex trapped down there.
They waited in silence for a long time, both feeling helpless and neither knowing what to say.
Finally, Owl said what Simmons had been thinking the whole time. “I think in this particular instance, we might need to disobey CB’s orders.”
Simmons tried to keep his voice calm as he answered. “I think you may be correct, Owl.”
“The Daylights are set up in the stairwells. We can turn them on with the remote in the rover. That’ll clear the stairs enough for us to get down there. Then it’ll just be a matter of fighting our way from the stairwell to the control room.”
Simmons didn’t answer. There were a thousand objections to her plan. First, they had no idea how many vampires were down there. CB had used the word horde. He hadn’t described the dozen or so vampires they’d faced in Buenos Aires using that word. And the team wouldn’t have turned tail and hid in the control room if they were just talking about a dozen vampires. Horde implied a not-easily countable number of vampires. CB had a far better handle on the situation down there than they did here, and he’d told them to stay put.
And then there was the matter of the Daylights. Yes, they could turn them on with the remote, but their light didn’t cover the entire stairwell. There would still be plenty of dark spots for the vampires to cower in. That also assumed the theory that the lights actually killed vampires and that the vampires hadn’t destroyed the lights. Owl had mounted them high in the corners, but Simmons had seen vampires jump much higher than ten feet during his tenure on the GMT.
He couldn’t imagine vampires taking any interest in darkened lights mounted in stairwell corners, but, before today, he hadn’t imagined vampires carrying out a coordinated attack, either.
“You know CB wouldn’t leave us down there,” Owl said.