The Savage Earth (The Vampire World Saga Book 1)

by P. T. Hylton

  Alex glanced over at Wesley. The poor kid looked a little shell-shocked. She patted him on the shoulder. “Chin up, man. Your dreams are about to come true. We’re about to go fight a bunch of vampires.”

  A slow smile grew on his face. “Yeah. This is gonna be awesome.”

  Alex wasn’t sure if that’s how she’d describe it, but she had to admire his enthusiasm. “Come on. Let’s gear up.”

  Chapter 34

  As the away ship descended through the dense cloud cover, Owl began her usual routine.

  “We’re now approaching the city of Fort Meade, Maryland, a place that at its peak held a population of around ten thousand people, but also housed many important military facilities, including the NSA headquarters we will be visiting today. Notable former residents include twentieth-century science fiction and comic book writer Peter David.”

  The crew waited for more, but none came.

  “Hang on, Owl,” Drew said. “That’s it? That’s all you’ve got for us? A comic book writer and the population?”

  “Cut me some slack. I just found out about this mission ninety minutes ago. I only had time to glance at one almanac.”

  “Captain,” Alex said, “I’d like to officially make a complaint about Owl’s lack of preparedness for this mission.”

  “Duly noted,” CB said.

  Alex glanced across the aisle toward Wesley. Now that they were only moments away from the real thing, his bravado was gone. His face was pale, and he gazed off into space with a thousand-yard stare. She wondered if she’d looked that way on her first mission. She kinda doubted it. Her nervousness manifested itself in other ways. She’d probably driven everyone crazy with bad jokes.

  They broke through the clouds, and Alex saw their destination below: two massive buildings, one taller and boxier, the other a shorter but far longer structure. Both sported glass walls.

  “At least there will be plenty of sunlight,” Drew said.

  Owl set them down gently next to the buildings. As soon as they touched down, everyone leaped to their feet and started gathering gear. Alex noticed Wesley fumbling with his equipment with shaky hands.

  “Hey,” she said. “You’re gonna be great. Just watch your buddy’s back, and he’ll do the same.”

  “Thanks,” he said, but his eyes were distant.

  She slapped him on the arm. “Look at me.” He did, and she saw fear in his eyes plain as day. “If you could handle those idiots rioting in Sparrow’s Ridge, you can handle this. Unlike the rioters, you’re allowed to shoot the vampires.”

  He smiled and gave a weak chuckle. “I guess you’re right. They probably won’t be chanting any dumb political slogans either.”

  “Let’s hope not,” Alex said. “I can forgive a creature who tries to drink my blood, but I’ll never forgive a bad rhyme.”

  She glanced over and saw CB watching her, a poorly concealed smile on his face.

  The team convened outside the ship, and CB pulled them together. “It’s nine a.m., and this place is goddamn massive. That means we don’t have a lot of time for sightseeing. Director Bowen believes the data center is more likely to be in the taller building. I wish we had more to go on, but that’s what we’ve got. We’ll start at the bottom and work our way up.”

  Wesley raised his hand.

  “It’s not grade school,” CB said. “Speak your mind, son.”

  “Ah, yes, sir. Sorry. I was just thinking maybe we could get more information in there.” He pointed at a building off to his right. The sign said Visitor Center. “Just a thought.”

  CB shook his head and chuckled. “You’re pulling your weight already.”

  The door to the Visitor Center was locked, so CB told Firefly to blow it off for him. Firefly was thrilled at this chance to ply his trade so early in the mission, and probably used a little more explosives than were strictly necessary for the job. Still, they were far enough from the two main buildings that Alex doubted the explosion woke any sleeping vampires.

  The team moved through the small, two-story structure, quickly ascertaining that there were no vampires here.

  Owl stopped in front of a large informational plaque near the front door. “Holy hell. Check this out, you guys.”

  Alex skimmed the first few paragraphs. The buildings were dedicated in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan. Housed over ten thousand employees. Blah blah blah. “That’s great, Owl. Those facts will come in handy in the unlikely event we ever need to return here.”

  “It’s the last sentence that’s capturing my attention.”

  Alex saw what her friend was talking about. “Holy hell, indeed. CB?”

  The captain wandered over, and they pointed at the last sentence on the plaque. In addition to the two structures, the Nation Security Headquarters also boasts an estimated 10 acres of underground facilities.

  “Well,” CB said, “I guess we’d better get started.”

  ***

  Alex gripped her pistol as they entered the stairwell and headed down to the first underground level. They were in the taller of the two large buildings, which was called OPS2A according to the information they’d found in the Visitor Center. Unlike in Texas, the team stayed together. They didn’t sweep the upper floors before heading down, either. For one, they’d learned in Texas that the vampires were smart enough to move from floor to floor to avoid detection. Secondly, and more importantly, there simply wasn’t time. Another nugget of information gleaned in the Visitor Center: the complex boasted over sixty-eight acres of floor space, four times as much as the U.S. Capitol building. They couldn’t possibly hope to search all of it and get back to the ship in the next seven hours.

  So they stayed together and headed downstairs.

  The place looked less like a war zone than the reactor in Texas had, but just barely. Once, Alex had to imagine this had been one of the most secure buildings in the United States. Now, the doors at the dozens of security checkpoints they passed were ripped right off their hinges. The keycard readers were still mounted on the walls next to gaping holes where the doors had once been.

  Even though the building was enormous, they were able to narrow their search relatively quickly. So-called red corridors, areas open to visitors who had worn distinctive red badges, were clearly marked, so they knew they could skip those. They also had a pretty good idea that the data center would be on one of the lowest floors. They decided to head straight to the bottom level and work their way up from there.

  The first vampire attacked them five levels down. It leaped out of a doorway just after they’d passed, cutting off their retreat up the stairs. Drew was at the rear of the pack, carrying a small generator on his back for powering up the computers, and there was no way he was going to be caught off guard.

  Alex kept her eyes on Wesley, wanting to see how he’d react. He brought up his assault rifle, aiming it in the general direction of Drew and the creature, but Drew already had his shotgun pointed at the vampire’s head. He pulled the trigger and the contents of the creature’s head splattered on the wall behind it.

  Wesley was breathing heavily after the encounter, but at least he hadn’t wet himself. She walked next to him as the group continued on and spoke softly so the others wouldn’t hear. “Hey, nice job having Drew’s back. Remember, though, you gotta trust your teammates. Close quarters like this, you gotta let the closest guy take the shot unless he’s in serious trouble. Last thing we need if one of us getting taken out by friendly fire.”

  Wesley’s eyes widened. “I would never—”

  “Relax. You’re doing fine. Watch where you point that thing, is all I’m saying.”

  As they descended the stairs, Firefly set small charges along the ground. They didn’t have the Daylights this time, and they’d need a way to clear the path if this went sideways again.

  Twelve floors down, they reached the bottom. The doorway was open, and an eighteen-inch-thick steel door lay on the floor a few feet away.

  “Let’s hope whoever did th
at is napping,” CB said.

  As they swept through the level looking for the data center, there were clear signs of vampire activity. The damaged walls, doors ripped off their hinges, and the lingering smell of death all told the tale that this place was occupied by residents that were perhaps being a bit shy, but were definitely home. They found proof of the theory near the center of the floor. Dozens and dozens of graves—all of them empty.

  Drew whispered into his microphone from up ahead. “Over here.”

  The others trotted over to him and saw a door marked Data Center.

  “This is going a little too well,” Alex said.

  “It won’t last,” CB said. “Looks like these vampires are attempting the same strategy their cousins down south pulled on us. Difference is, this time we’ll be ready.”

  Chapter 35

  The Data Center was a large, mostly open room filled with servers. There were two entrances, one on each end of the room. As Owl started setting up to do her work, Alex investigated both of them. For the most part, she liked what she saw. While the doors had long ago been removed, both exits led to long, narrow hallways. It was a highly defensible position for a small group facing a larger attacking force. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that, but she was glad to know they’d have a chance if it did.

  Drew hauled the generator to the room’s power supply, and he and Owl hooked it up. A few moments later, the servers blinked to life.

  “You sure you can do this, Owl?” CB asked. “I thought you said you weren’t that big of a computer nerd.”

  “I’m not,” she said, “but Brian is. Besides, this is ancient technology. A modern toaster could probably hack it.” She pulled out her tablet and connected it to the nearest server.

  Alex sauntered over to Wesley, who stood rigidly, holding his assault rifle at the ready. “How you doing?”

  “Excellent,” he said. He glanced toward CB, who was busy staring over Owl’s shoulder. “It’s not what I expected, seeing one up close. The smell…I can still taste it in the air, you know?”

  “I know,” she said.

  “And its face? It’s different than in the pictures.” He was talking faster now, getting excited. “It’s pure animal, but there was some humanity in its eyes, too. Like I could almost see the person it used to be. I wasn’t expecting that.”

  Alex had never noticed that. To her, it was difficult to imagine they’d ever been human. “Well, you’re doing great. Just stay ready. We’ll face more of them before this is over.”

  “How’s it going, Owl?” CB asked.

  Owl sounded distracted when she answered. “Well, I take back what I said about the toaster. The security on this thing is no joke.”

  “Are you telling me you can’t get the info?” CB asked, rising alarm in his voice.

  “No. I’ll get it. I could probably hijack New Haven and crash it into the ocean with all the programs Brian loaded on this tablet.”

  “I vote we don’t do that,” Drew said.

  “It’s just going to take a little longer than I’d hoped.”

  CB sighed. “Okay, keep at it. In the meantime, the rest of you stay frosty. Alex, Drew, you keep an eye out in the north corridor. Wesley, you come with me in the south hallway. Firefly, you stay with Owl and watch her back so she can keep her head down.

  The first pair of vampires attacked ten minutes later. They came down the north hallway, howling in rage as they ran.

  Alex saw them when they were still thirty feet away, and she took her time aiming. She dropped the first one with an explosive round to the head at twenty feet, and the other with three shots to the heart at ten feet.

  “Nice shooting,” Drew said.

  “Thanks.” Even though she’d easily fought off the attack, she found it disquieting. It was too much like the control room in Texas. A few vampires had attacked in singles and pairs, testing their defenses before the big attack.

  From inside the Data Center, Owl let out a triumphant laugh. “Ha! I’m in. Now I just need to download the information.”

  “How long?” CB asked.

  “Looks like about twenty minutes.”

  “We’ll be home in time for dinner,” Firefly said.

  The others didn’t respond to that. They didn’t want to jinx it.

  Two vampires attacked the south entrance five minutes later. Alex heard the howl of their approach, a cluster of automatic gunfire, a pistol, and then Wesley’s voice.

  “I got one!”

  “That you did,” CB said. “Took his damn head off, too. Nice shooting, kid.”

  “Well, it took me twenty rounds for mine. You took yours down with three.”

  “Practice makes perfect.”

  Alex touched the radio on her chest. “CB, you see how they’re attacking? A couple scouts testing each approach?”

  “I sure do. It’s just like last time. How much longer, Owl?”

  “Ten minutes,” she answered. “Fifteen if we want to take this generator back with us.”

  “Good,” CB said. “Maybe they won’t launch their big attack until we’re already out the door.”

  A moment later, the rumble of dozens of approaching feet, seemingly from every corner of the building, put that idea to rest.

  “Okay,” CB said. “Guess it’s time to earn our pay. Let’s kill some vampires.”

  ***

  Alex and Drew stood back to back in the middle of the north hallway. They had no way to tell which direction the vampires would be coming from, but, based on experience, Alex expected they’d come from both directions at once.

  Fighting back to back, relying on your teammate to handle his side of the hallway while you handled yours, required great faith. Alex would have her hands full taking care of her side, and she wouldn’t have time to look over her shoulder and make sure Drew was taking care of business. She’d just have to trust that he was. The same would be true for him. It was a level of trust she wouldn’t have had in anyone a few years ago.

  She gave a fleeting thought to CB on the other side of the hallway, back to back with Wesley, who’d been a member of the team for about twenty minutes. The thought made her shudder, and she momentarily wished she’d switched places with CB when she had the chance. Not that he would have let her. He’d promoted Wesley to the team, so he’d insist on paying the consequences if the guy couldn’t handle it.

  She pushed the thought away. It was time to focus.

  “Drew, my good man, how do you intend to deal with the approaching horde of undead monsters?”

  The ground was shaking now. The vampires were almost upon them.

  “Ah, I’m glad you asked, dear lady.” He spoke in the mock-careful cadence of the Hub elite. “I thought I’d begin the evening’s festivities with a silver shrapnel grenade tossed into their midst as they approach. Then I’ll move on to a generous portion of robust shotgun shells. Should our guests still have an appetite after that, I shall finish with my pistol. Yourself?”

  She started to answer that she too would begin with some light grenade work, but before she could, the vampires rounded the corner thirty feet ahead.

  “Here we go!” Drew yelled.

  Alex pulled the pin on her grenade and hurled it as far as she could down the corridor. As it reached the vampires, a hand shot up and snatched it from the air.

  For a terrible moment, Alex thought it might throw the grenade back at her. Instead, the creature studied the strange object in its hand. It exploded, and the three closest vampires fell to the ground. Five others moaned in pain as silver shrapnel dug into their leathery hide. It didn’t stop them from continuing to charge.

  By then, Alex had her pistol ready. Most of them were running on all fours, their hearts blocked from her view, so she was forced to go for head shots. It was a lower-percentage shot, and she missed twice as many as she hit. Still, she dropped a good number of them, and their companions were forced to slow down and scurry over the fallen bodies, which gave her a bit more time to aim at he
r next target.

  Drew’s shotgun fired blast after blast behind her. Neither of them spoke. They were professionals doing their job. The time for wisecracks had ended the moment the first vampire rounded the corner.

  She tried to count how many were left in the hallway. She’d taken out eight so far. She thought there were ten more, but the way they moved and wriggled over each other made it difficult to keep an accurate count.

  She took down two more, but they were almost to her now. She grimaced, shifted the gun to her left hand, and used the right one to draw her sword.

  There were, what, eight left rushing toward her? This was a narrow hallway; those things operated best in open spaces, where their wild, frantic movements were an asset rather than a liability. In this hallway, the way they leaped around, they could only fit two at a time.

  Alex liked her odds.

  She raised her sword and went to work.

  ***

  CB was standing in the south hallway, his back nearly touching Wesley’s when he heard a grenade go off, quickly followed by another. The vampires on the other side were a bit quicker, apparently. Or was this strategy? An attempt to drive the humans toward this hallway where an even larger horde would be waiting, maybe?

  He turned his head and spoke over his shoulder. “Lob your grenade at them when they round the corner, then start firing. You’ve got an automatic weapon there and enough ammo to kill every vampire between here and Washington D.C. Don’t be stingy with it.”

  “Yes, sir.” There was a shake in the kid’s voice. Not that CB blamed him. This was one hell of a first mission. Still, if either of them was going to survive this, Wesley needed to get past the nerves. No way to tell if that was going to happen until the shooting started.

  “Hey, Wesley, you were born to do this. I knew it the moment I saw you work out with the team for the first time. Do what you were brought here to do.”

  “Yes, sir.” His voice was more confident this time.

  CB wasn’t normally one to blow smoke, but he wasn’t above it from time to time. Especially when his life was on the line. The roar of the approaching vampires was almost upon them now. It was startling how quickly it had gone from a distant sound to right around the corner. “Here we go, Wesley.”