by P. T. Hylton
CB took a step forward. “I have to admit the new uniforms are intimidating. Won’t help against the vampires, though.” He scanned their faces, wishing he could see their eyes. “Look, you boys must have been badges before getting this new gig. That means you know me. You know General Craig. There’s no way you believe the stories Fleming’s telling about us.”
There was a moment of silence, then the lead man said, “We have our orders. Surrender or we will take you down hard.”
CB smiled grimly. “You’ve been GMT what? A day? Guess it’s time for your first real sparring session.”
The faceless GMT members moved forward cautiously. If they did know CB, then they knew he was a formidable opponent. They’d be careful.
CB reminded himself he didn’t need to take every one of these GMT imposters down; he just needed to hold them off for a couple minutes. He believed he could do that, especially if he made a strong first impression.
The masked man in front—the one CB assumed was the leader—surged forward, swinging his baton at CB’s midsection. CB stepped to his left, easily avoiding the telegraphed attack. While the man was still in motion, CB swung the fire extinguisher, holding it by the hose. The canister slammed into the attacker’s face with a metallic clang. The new GMT leader dropped to the ground, unconscious, his ruined nose spurting blood.
“Not a great first attack,” CB said. “Who can do better?”
The others hesitated.
“Come on!” CB growled. “You want to call yourselves GMT, then you damn well better act like it! Obey your orders.”
Finally, three of the them stepped forward, each holding a baton. They attacked in unison, the three of them shoulder to shoulder in the narrow tunnel.
CB felt a slight smile cross his face. They were fighting like this was a brawl at Tankards; nothing about this seemed like a coordinated assault. He stepped left and forward, effectively putting the leftmost attacker between him and the others. When the man raised his baton, CB threw a right-hand jab, catching him in the throat. CB snatched the baton from the attacker’s suddenly loose grip and whirled around, dropping into a crouch and hitting the center man in the knee.
As the center man went down, CB brought up his left hand, swinging the fire extinguisher upward. The canister slammed into the man on the right's jaw, and he reeled backward.
“Seriously?” CB shouted. He was talking louder than he’d intended, unable to keep the anger out of his voice. “If you were any sort of team, you’d have me on the ground right now. You better hope to God you never go up against the real GMT. They would grind you into dust.”
He turned his angry gaze toward the remaining two, but before they could make their move, Jessica shouted in the distance.
“Now, CB!”
He leaped into the air as high as he could, bringing his knees up, getting as much air as possible.
A flash of light shot through the tunnel a moment before CB’s feet landed back on the ground. The remaining members of the faceless GMT went down.
CB was breathing hard, trying to figure out what had just happened, when Jessica and Brian came running back down the tunnel.
“Nice work,” Jessica said.
CB stared down at the fallen attackers. Now that the fight was over and his anger was subsiding, he almost felt sorry for them. They’d been following Fleming’s orders, same as CB would have in another time. “Thanks. Back at ya. What the hell did you do?”
“We found the transformer panel,” Brian said. “Jessica had the idea of disabling the ground and overloading the circuit. Sent a burst of electricity through the metal tunnel. The range was limited, but it worked.” He gestured to the fallen faceless GMT members. “Obviously.”
“You science people don’t mess around,” CB said. He dropped to a crouch next to the attackers and felt each of their necks. “Looks like they survived, but we need to get out of here. Fleming could have three more teams just like them for all we know. One thing I want to do first.”
He reached into one of their packs and found what he was looking for. Standard-issue Kevlar rope and a radio. “Let’s tie them up.”
Once they’d bound the faceless GMT, Brian, Jessica, and CB made their way deeper into the bowels of the ship. Jessica said she knew a place they would be safe, and even the GMT wouldn’t be able to find them.
“So that’s our strategy?” Brian asked. “Hide until Fleming gets bored of ruling New Haven and gives up?”
“Not exactly,” CB said. “I have a plan, but we need to rest and recuperate before putting it into action. Then we just need to find a way to take over the flight controls for a few hours.”
Jessica and Brian exchanged a glance. “That won’t be easy," Jessica said. "The controls were designed to be unhackable. The only way to steer the ship is to get control of the flight deck itself.”
“Okay, let’s do that, then,” CB said. When he saw the looks on their faces, he grinned. “Hey, nobody said overthrowing a dictator and taking control of a flying city was going to be easy. I’m counting on you geniuses to help me figure out how to bypass the flight control’s security, avoid these masked killers, and take control of the flight deck without killing innocent people.”
“Uh-huh,” Jessica said. “And what are you going to be doing?”
“I’ll be arming my secret weapon.”
7
The cafeteria in Agartha was quiet, as was the team sitting around the table. Their plates had long since been cleared and they’d run out of things to say.
Once again, they were waiting, and Alex hated it.
It was a few minutes before sundown. A few minutes until Jaden and his team would wake up and prepare for their journey to Denver to retrieve the disabled away ship. Assuming it was still there. At that point, Alex could either go to bed and most likely stare up at the ceiling until morning, or pace around Agartha and drive all the vampires who stayed behind nuts with her questions.
Ed leaned forward. “Heh.”
“What’s so funny?” Chuck asked.
“I was just thinking about CB. He’s gotta be pissed right now. He’s the only guy I know who hates waiting more than Alex.”
Alex chuckled. “Very true.”
Owl climbed from her seat and sat on the table. “CB probably thinks we’re dead, right? I mean, that’s gotta be what Fleming told everyone.”
“Sure,” Wesley agreed. “He probably gave one of his big speeches. You know the ones. Tragic accident. This loss will not be in vain. Resettlement must move forward.”
Something clicked in Alex’s mind, something that had been bothering her for the last couple of hours but she hadn’t been able to put into conscious thought. “I don’t know. If Fleming said we were dead, CB would insist on being on the team that came down to check out the landing site and recover the away ship.”
Patrick shrugged. “So what? Maybe he was on that team.”
Owl shook her head, catching on. “If CB’d been to the landing site, he would have seen the missing batteries and rover. He would have known exactly where we’d gone.”
“And he would have been knocking on Agartha’s doors twenty minutes later,” Alex added. She thought a moment. “We need to get back to New Haven fast. CB’s in trouble. What are the chances we can have the ship up and running tomorrow?”
“Hard to say until we see it,” Owl replied. “Though we have to be realistic about this. Even if Jaden and his team get the ship and it’s an easy repair, New Haven has a defensive system. It hasn’t been used since the early days, but it’s tested and operational. Fleming could shoot us out of the sky if he sees us coming.”
Alex looked at the pilot. “I have to believe the people of New Haven won’t let that happen. They’ve got to be fighting Fleming by now. We have friends up there. Brian. Jessica. CB. Who knows how many more. When the time comes, we have to trust they’ll help get us inside.”
Patrick sighed. “This is great and all, but we need a ship before we have to worry about any of that.
Let’s let the vampires do their thing, and then we’ll worry about doing ours.”
Chuck looked at him in surprise. “Wow, Patrick, that might be the wisest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”
Patrick stared back at him earnestly for a moment, then opened his mouth and let out a tremendous burp.
Ed burst out in laughter at the apparently brilliant piece of comedy.
Alex’s radio chirped and George’s voice came through.
“Alex, you there?”
She scooped up the handheld radio and held it to her mouth. “Yeah, I’m here, George. What’s up?”
“Remember how you wanted me to let you know when he woke up?”
“Yeah.”
“He woke up.”
Less than five minutes later, Alex stood in the hangar area just inside the door to the outside world. Though the vampires had only been awake a few minutes, they were already moving with purpose, every one of them knowing his or her job and doing it without being told.
Jaden stood near the front, huddled together with George and Robert, going over some final details. Alex shoehorned in between George and Jaden.
“How many are you taking with you?” she asked.
Jaden shot her an annoyed glance. “Alex, you’re going to have to trust—”
“I did trust,” she snapped. “I kept my team inside all day when it was the last thing any of us wanted. All because you said you and your team could handle recovering the ship better. I think that’s as much trust as anyone should be required to have, and I don’t think a few details is too much to ask.”
Robert chuckled. “Have I mentioned that I like her, Jaden? Maybe we should bring her along.”
A spark of hope kindled in Alex’s chest for just a moment.
“Sure, and have the smell of a human attracting every Feral within a hundred miles of here?” Jaden countered. “I don’t think so.” He turned to Alex. “I’m taking fourteen other vampires with me. We’ll be using a ramming truck to clear the road and a flatbed big enough to carry the away ship. I’m confident we can get there and back in plenty of time. What I don’t know is how long it will take us to load up the away ship, so I want to get moving ASAP.”
Alex started at him blankly. “What’s that?”
“What’s what?”
“ASAP. You said you want to get moving ASAP.”
Jaden looked at her a moment, confused. Then he burst out laughing. “I’m sorry. You don’t use the term ASAP in New Haven?”
“Apparently not.” Alex was far less amused by this conversation than he was.
“It’s an acronym,” George interjected. “It means ‘as soon as possible.’”
“Ah.” She glared at Jaden, who was still laughing.
“It was a pretty common one in the days before infestation,” Jaden said with a chuckle. “I wonder why your people let it die off.”
Alex frowned. “Yeah, well, I can’t help you there. But I would appreciate it if you got ASAP out of here so I could have my ship back.”
That set Jaden off laughing again, even harder than before. “I’m sorry, Alex,” he managed between laughs. “You really are quite entertaining. I’ll get your ship back here as soon as I can.”
Alex allowed herself a slight smile. “Good luck out there. I’ll see you ASAP.”
Jaden let out one last laugh and clapped her on the shoulder. “Very good. That was almost correct.”
Firefly woke in terror, darkness and icy cold surrounding him. And something else pulsating through his very bones: hunger.
It took a moment before it all came back, and when it did, he wanted nothing more than to lie there under the snow until his mind left him and he went Feral. But he couldn’t do that, because under the hunger was an even more urgent need: his masters were calling him.
His fingers tore through the snow like lightning-quick shovels, and he burst forth into the darkness of the evening. As he landed, he ran, racing toward his masters. He found them at the top of a frozen pile of Feral corpses, looking down on the gates of Agartha.
Mark glanced at him when he arrived. “Took you long enough. Next time we call you, be faster.”
Firefly felt himself nod. From the moment he’d opened his eyes until he’d arrived at their side couldn’t have been more than fifteen seconds. He didn’t know how it would be possible to arrive any faster. Yet, they’d given him an order, and he would have to obey it even if it meant pushing his body beyond the point of injury.
Aaron clapped him on the shoulder. “It’s a big night. Are you ready?”
He answered honestly, the only way he could answer his masters. “I don’t know.”
Aaron chuckled. “Well, you’d better figure it out real quick, because we’re going to be fighting Jaden’s vampires in a couple hours, and these dudes do not play.”
Mark gestured toward the outer doors of Agartha. “Based on what we saw when we were living in the city, the patrols started about two hours after sundown. Maybe slightly earlier if Jaden and his disciples were headed out on a large supply run. Either way, we want to make sure we’re ready to attack the moment one of them sticks their head out that door.”
Aaron nodded. “We’ve got the snipers in position, but we need to make sure they’re ready. And that everyone’s in the ideal location.”
Firefly nodded, not understanding what any of this had to do with them.
Mark grunted. “Okay, look, what we’re trying to say here is that even though we are incredibly powerful vampires, we don’t have a lot of experience in the military arena. Aaron was a mechanic or something, right?”
“And as far as I can tell, Mark was just a nerd,” Aaron replied.
Mark shot him a look. “Point is, we haven’t done this sort of thing before. I guarantee Jaden has. That’s why we need your expertise. You were a captain, right?”
Firefly nodded briskly, not much liking the were in that sentence.
Mark chuckled. “You want to call yourself a captain, or even a general, that’s fine with us. As long as you do your job. Help us set up this attack so it’ll get the job done. Coordinate the troops. Make this work.”
Firefly wanted nothing more than to refuse, but he knew he had no choice. Still, maybe he could leverage this situation. Ask questions that would help him better plan the attack, thus fulfilling orders, but also gather information that could be used later.
“Of course. But why do you need me to coordinate the troops? Can’t you just do that mental orders thing like you did to wake me up and tell me to come here?”
Mark shrugged. “It doesn’t work like that. We can send simple messages, like danger or come. But for something this complex, I have a feeling we're going to want an actual voice on the radio.”
“Got it,” Firefly said. His mind was already racing, knowing this information could be used against them. If he could somehow get in a situation where Mark and Aaron were at a distance and a simple command wouldn’t do, he might be able to—
“What that hell?” Aaron muttered. He squinted as he stared at the outer doors to Agartha.
Firefly followed his gaze and was surprised to see the doors were opening.
“Well, isn’t this interesting,” Mark said. “Looks like this thing is going down a little sooner than we’d expected.”
When the doors were halfway open, a heavily armored truck burst through the opening and sped down the snowy trail. A second truck, this one with a massive flatbed and a boom arm mounted on it, quickly followed.
Though the trucks were a good three hundred yards away, Firefly was surprised to see he could easily make out who was sitting in the cab of the first truck. Robert was driving and Jaden was riding in the passenger seat.
Mark must have seen the same thing Firefly did, because he said, “Oh, hell yeah. Let’s light ‘em up.”
Aaron waited a moment before answering, “I don’t think so.”
Mark turned to his partner, clearly annoyed. “Are you serious? We could surround those
trucks and take them down in five minutes. We’ll never have a better opportunity.”
Aaron gestured toward the vehicles. “Those trucks are headed to pick up something. Something big. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to know what that something is.”
Mark thought about that a moment. “Fine. We follow them wherever they’re going. We check out their prize. Then we take them out.” He turned to Firefly. “Gather the troops. Let them know to follow, but at a distance. We’re moving out.”
8
The truck sped along the disused road, its massive six-foot tires rumbling over the uneven terrain.
As much as he preferred to run on these nightly excursions, Jaden had to admit traveling by truck had a certain allure. If he closed his eyes, he could almost forget the world had gone to hell. Almost.
Robert kept his eyes on the road as he drove. “Remember these roads in the old days?”
“Yeah,” Jaden replied. He’d spent significant time in these mountains in the pre-infestation era. Back then, it had seemed civilization was crowding in, threatening to drive the last ounce of wildness from humanity. He’d assumed the wildness would continue diminishing. How wrong he’d been. A few short years after he’d had those thoughts, wildness had been all that was left. “Back in those days, there were far fewer potholes.” He gestured toward the road ahead of them. “And fewer obstacles.”
While they’d made great progress on their journey thus far, they’d seen far more Ferals then they usually would on this remote road. And all of them were moving toward Agartha. One of them stood in the road as their truck approached, sniffing the air. It paused a moment, then took off running toward the mountain city.
A few vampires had even jumped onto the truck, probably drawn by the lingering smell of George and the human mechanics who’d worked on it that day. Jaden and his vampires hadn’t bothered engaging them; as soon as the Ferals realized there were no humans aboard, they jumped off.
“You know, I feel sorry for them,” Robert said, staring at the Ferals gathering on the road. “To think that there are real people trapped inside those creatures. I kinda wish we’d never met Aaron and Mark.”