Day Soldiers (Book 2): Purging Fires

by Brandon Hale

  With a single bound, Talbot leapt onto the roof and pointed his sword at Wallace. “You’re not going to inspire them to follow you, old man.”

  “I don’t care if they follow me or not,” Wallace said. “Weren’t you listening? I want them to follow their hearts. I want them to follow the path they know is right.”

  “They follow me!” Talbot yelled as he swung his sword toward Wallace, who parried the strike and quickly returned with an attack of his own.

  On the ground, Scott leaned toward Grung and said, “We should leave. Now.”

  “No,” Grung said.

  “We don’t want to be here if Talbot wins,” Scott said.

  “If Talbot wins,” Grung said, “this is exactly where I want to be. I can’t kill him if I’m not here.”

  Scott shook his head. “You’ll make a fine werewolf,” he said. His statement was obviously not a compliment.

  Grung didn’t respond. Instead, he watched the incredible war on the rooftops. Even with his new werewolf eyes, he could barely see the fight. Talbot and Wallace fought with blinding speed. Their swords were a blur of silver and sparks. They leapt from roof to roof, moving faster than anything Grung had ever seen.

  The upper hand seemed to shift as fast as their swords moved. One second, Talbot was driving Wallace back. The next, Wallace was the aggressor. Nobody seemed to hold the advantage for long.

  They fought with more than swords. They kicked, punched, and head-butted their way across the rooftops. Grung could see that both of the fighters struggled to control themselves. Occasionally, they would shift to their wolf form, but quickly came back to a human shape.

  “Why don’t they just turn to wolves?” Grung said. “It’s obvious they’re struggling to stay human.”

  “Control,” Scott said. “When they’re wolves, they lose control, which is something you don’t want to happen if your opponent has a silver sword.”

  On the roof, Wallace blocked a strike and kicked Talbot in the chest. Talbot fell from the building and crashed onto the parking lot below. Wallace dropped to the ground and continued his assault. Blocking the attacks, Talbot managed to get back to his feet. Wallace relented for a moment and stepped away from Talbot.

  “Join me,” Wallace said. “It doesn’t have to be this way. If you love killing, help me kill the vampires!”

  “I cannot,” Talbot said. “I vowed to take down humanity and I will keep that vow.”

  “You’d rather kill millions than go back on your word?” Wallace said. “I think you have a warped view of honor.”

  “You assume,” Talbot said, “that I think killing millions of humans is a dishonorable act. I do not.”

  “That makes me sad, my friend,” Wallace said. “You could have been a powerful force for good.”

  “I am a force for good!”

  Talbot attacked with renewed ferocity. Wallace managed to block several attacks, but Talbot was relentless.

  Grung watched in horror as Talbot managed to disarm Wallace, sending his sword flying across the parking lot. A split second later, Talbot drove his blade through Wallace’s heart.

  Wallace looked down at the weapon, then back at Talbot. He tried to speak, but couldn’t. Instead, blood poured from his mouth.

  Talbot quickly pulled the sword from Wallace’s chest and swung again, slicing through the commander’s neck.

  Commander Geoff Wallace’s body fell to the ground as his severed head bounced across the parking lot.

  “NO!”

  Grung didn’t think. He didn’t evaluate the situation. If he had, perhaps he would have tried to escape, but conscious thought was unknown to him in that moment. He was driven by pure instinct.

  He was pure instinct.

  He gave himself to the wolf that now lived inside him. He burst from the crowd and was on the other side of the parking lot in a single leap. The next thing he knew, he was a human again, wearing the tattered remnants of his clothes and holding Wallace’s sword in his hand.

  “You’ve been disgraced, Grung,” Talbot said. “You are not the warrior I thought you were. You’re a murderer. I have no obligation to face you.”

  Grung tore into Talbot with a ferocity that was until that moment unknown to him. Talbot blocked the attacks, but just barely. Grung drove him toward the building, every attack faster and stronger than the last.

  From the crowd, Scott mumbled, “Dammit, Grung,” and started toward the fight. A hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned around to see Reagan standing behind him.

  “Don’t,” Reagan said. “Look at the others. They’re not interfering.”

  Scott looked around. She was right. All of the werewolves – from both armies – just watched the fight.

  “Wallace’s words have shaken them,” Reagan said. “If Grung can win, there’s still a chance for this mission.”

  “What if Grung loses?” Scott said.

  “We’re dead anyway,” Reagan answered.

  Scott didn’t join the fight.

  It was up to Grung.

  Everything was up to Grung.

  Grung honestly had no idea if he was in wolf form or human form. He focused only on Talbot and he made no effort to control his rage. Every strike was a strike to kill. Every thrust was toward a vital organ. Grung wasn’t even sure if that mattered when fighting with a silver sword, but he didn’t care. The only thing he cared about was seeing Talbot die.

  Talbot frantically blocked every attack. He tried to look confident, but Grung could see the fear in his eyes. Talbot deflected another attack and quickly leapt to the roof of the building behind him.

  Grung joined him with one easy jump.

  “If I win this,” Talbot said, “your life belongs to me. Agree to that, Grung, or I’ll have my people kill you right now.”

  For the first time since the fight began, Grung tried to calm himself. Talbot’s words struck him as very odd. Why would Talbot have said that in a fight to the death?

  “Agreed,” Grung said. “And if I win, your life belongs to me.”

  When Talbot nodded his agreement, Grung suddenly understood.

  He wants to lose.

  Grung saw something unexpected in Talbot’s eyes. He saw pain and regret. Killing Wallace had done something to Talbot. It had changed him. Grung could see that Talbot had suddenly lost the desire to lead his army.

  Of course, Grung knew Talbot wouldn’t just surrender. His absurd sense of honor prevented it. He would fight with everything he had, and he would kill Grung if he saw the opening.

  Grung knew he had to earn victory from this insane, broken werewolf.

  With renewed control, Grung attacked.

  Chapter 23

  The Capture of Lily Baxter

  “Lily,” Abbie said, “we have reason to believe it’s time to accept the inevitable.”

  Every team of Day Soldiers used code words when there was a chance they were being monitored by the enemy. The code words were unique to each team, and determined in person. They weren’t on file anywhere and they were changed before every mission.

  For Lily’s team, “accept the inevitable” was code for “get yourself captured.”

  “Are you serious, Abbie?” Lily said into her communicator.

  “If I were going to contact you just to tell a joke,” Abbie said, “I would come up with something better than that. The old joke about a vampire in a tanning bed comes to mind.”

  “I’m assuming you can’t tell me why you want me to accept the inevitable,” Lily said.

  “I can’t,” Abbie said. “And I can’t even guarantee it’s the right thing to do. So this isn’t an order. The choice is yours.”

  “But you think it’s what I should do,” Lily said.

  “I have… reservations,” Abbie said, “but my companion thinks it’s the right thing to do.”

  “Who’s your companion?” Lily asked.

  “Coop,” Abbie said.

  Lily didn’t know Cooper very well, but she knew him enough
to know he was a good soldier. “What would you do in my place, Abbie?”

  After a brief pause, Abbie said, “I would accept the inevitable. There’s a real chance for some good karma.”

  “Good karma” was code for a shift in the war to the Day Soldiers’ favor.

  “Okay,” Lily said. “I trust you.”

  “Do you have means?” Abbie asked.

  Lily looked back toward the hotel room. “Yeah,” she said. “I have means.”

  “I have things to do,” Abbie said. “Unless you have something else—”

  “I don’t,” Lily said. “Take care, Abbie.”

  “Good luck,” Abbie said.

  “You too,” Lily said. “Baxter out.”

  She turned off her communicator and looked inside at Travis. Ellie was still holding the stake in place. Lily’s heart ached. After everything, she now had to surrender herself to that monster. If Abbie had contacted her four hours earlier, Greg would still be alive.

  Now, Greg’s death was for nothing.

  Lily walked into the hotel room and kneeled beside Travis. He looked at her with weak eyes.

  “If I surrender to you,” Lily said, “will you promise to let the rest of my team go?”

  “Lily, no!” Ellie said.

  “If you surrender,” Carl said, “Greg died for nothing.”

  Carl’s words stabbed Lily’s heart like a dagger. “Guys,” she said, “we can’t kill this one. We can only hope he’s one-of-a-kind. But he’s not going to die and he’s not going to stop hunting me. The only way to end this is by surrendering to him. I’m not going to be responsible for your deaths. We’ve already sacrificed too much.”

  “Lily,” Ellie said, “killing Greg has screwed with your head. That’s exactly what he wanted.”

  “Abbie agrees,” Lily said.

  “What?” Carl said.

  “I just talked to Abbie,” Lily said, hoping they would understand. “She said it’s time to accept the inevitable.”

  Carl and Ellie looked at each other, then back at Lily.

  “I don’t care,” Ellie said. “This is the wrong thing to do.”

  “The decision is made,” Lily said. She turned back to Travis. “If I surrender to you, do you promise to let my friends go?”

  Travis nodded.

  “And do you promise to never hunt them again?” Lily said. “Never harm them.”

  “I need… specifics…” Travis said, “to be able… to keep that one…” Speaking seemed to hurt him, which made Lily happy.

  “These two,” Lily said, “plus the other two on the plane you attacked.”

  “Got it,” Travis said. “The dog and the sword-arm. And I’ll do ya one better… Not only do I promise… to never hunt or harm them… If I see them in danger, I promise to protect them.”

  “You’re lying,” Ellie said. “Why would you promise that?”

  Travis took several breaths, apparently building up the strength to talk, then said, “I’ll do it because it sounds fun. I lost my desire to hunt humans back when I was a human. They’re boring. Capturing her… is just me fulfilling a promise. Once I get her back, I’m done with you losers.”

  “Pull out the stake,” Lily said.

  Ellie looked at her with defiant eyes. “I want to say again that I think this is a terrible idea.”

  “Noted,” Lily said. “Remove the stake.”

  “Wait,” Carl said. “I have to do one thing first.” He leaned over and began to punch Travis in the face, speaking between hits. “I… am not… a nerd!”

  After several seconds, he stopped and stepped back. “Okay. You can remove it now.”

  Ellie pulled out the stake.

  Travis sat up and leaned against the wall. His wounds immediately began to heal, but he still seemed weak. He looked at Carl and said, “I promised I wouldn’t hunt you or kill you, and I’ll keep that promise. But if we ever meet again, I will give you the worst wedgie you’ve ever had. That’s my vow to you.”

  “What the hell is a wedgie?” Carl said.

  “Where are you taking me?” Lily asked Travis.

  “DC,” Travis said. “The President of Topia wants to execute you personally.”

  “What the hell is a Topia?” Ellie asked.

  Travis shrugged. “I have no clue. I think it’s the name she gave to America. Or the world. She’s never been really clear about it.”

  “It’s a stupid name,” Lily said.

  “I agree,” Travis said. “We ready?”

  “I guess,” Lily said. “You on a deadline or something?”

  “Nah,” Travis said. “I’m just curious to see what you people have planned. I hope it’s something big.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lily said.

  “Sure you do,” Travis said with a grin. “You beat me. You had me completely subdued. Then you went outside for ten minutes and came back and surrendered. Obviously, your boss told you to do that.”

  “You really are nuts,” Lily said.

  “I am,” Travis said, “but I’m not stupid. All that ‘accept the inevitable’ nonsense was obviously some kind of bullshit code.”

  “Believe what you want,” Lily said. “I don’t care.”

  “I can hear your pulse,” Travis said. “You’re nervous because I didn’t buy your stupid little performance. Don’t worry. I have no devotion to those Topian morons. I’m not telling them anything. I just want to see what kind of show you have planned.”

  “Are you ready or not?” Lily said.

  Travis looked at Greg’s body. “You can have a funeral for your dead buddy there if you want. I’m cool with that. Or, if you’re not ready to accept his death, I can bring him back as a zombie. I have that power.”

  Ellie drove the stake back into Travis’s heart.

  “Stop that!” Travis screamed. “Damn!”

  Ellie pulled the stake out. “Never mention him again. Ever.”

  “I was trying to be nice,” Travis said. “Sheesh.” He looked at Carl and winked. “I was lying about the zombie thing, by the way. I can’t do that. It would be cool, though, if I could.”

  Lily looked at Ellie and said, “Contact Abbie. Ask her for additional orders. Obviously, our original mission is a big failure since we have no idea where Scott is. I’m sure there’s a vehicle here you can use. Head back to our starting point. I can’t think of another option.”

  “They could follow us to DC,” Travis said.

  “Shut up,” Lily said.

  “Hey,” Travis said. “I don’t give a shit either way. I just figured they’d want to be there for whatever you guys are planning.”

  Lily walked up to Ellie and hugged her. She turned to Carl and hugged him. “Take care of each other,” she said.

  “They’re not going to kill you, Lily,” Carl said. “If I’ve learned anything from being on this team, it’s that the Legion is incapable of killing Lily Baxter.”

  Lily smiled softly. “I hope you’re right.”

  “I know he’s right,” Ellie said.

  “Don’t try to find Grung,” Lily said. “Trust Wallace. You just focus on staying alive. Promise me, Ellie.”

  “I promise,” Ellie said.

  Lily turned to Travis. “Let’s go before I change my mind.”

  “Thank God,” Travis said. “Crap like this is exactly why I have no stomach for humans.”

  Chapter 24

  Strangers and Friends

  The trip to DC was relatively uneventful. Abbie and her team managed to find several vehicles in a deserted town and drove north for the next ten hours, avoiding all other towns. They didn’t come across a single werewolf. Charlotte and the other two researchers stayed at the facility near Iveyton.

  Somewhere in the woods of northern Virginia, the scout led them into a cave that eventually became a concrete underground passageway.

  Abbie’s team followed the scout through miles of underground corridors. They stayed underground for two days, stopp
ing to sleep once. The concrete corridor was bleak and unlit. The only light came from their flashlights.

  “You folks don’t take chances,” Abbie said.

  “Would you?” the scout replied. Her name was Miranda. She was a young woman, in her early twenties, at most. She wore a Day Soldiers uniform with a brown pony-tail sticking out of the back of her cap.

  “Are we gonna have to set up camp down here again?” Cooper asked.

  “No,” Miranda said as she stopped walking. “We’re there.”

  “Just looks like more tunnel to me,” Cooper said.

  “It’s on the side,” Miranda said. She placed her palm on the wall. Nothing happened. “I always have trouble finding the actual sensor.” She moved her hand around for several minutes until the wall finally moved. A small door slid open, revealing a stairway descending into the darkness.

  “How long did it take you to build this?” Abbie asked. “The tunnel alone is incredible.”

  “Far as I know,” Miranda said, “they started the day after the declaration video was sent out. It took about eight years to complete. This is the largest and most sophisticated hidden facility in the country. Maybe the world. The entire corridor is lined with cameras and automated weapons capable of killing vampires and werewolves.”

  “Impressive,” Cooper said.

  “Yeah,” Miranda said. “And you haven’t even seen the facility yet. From what I understand, the entire place was designed by some kind of crazy genius.”

  A large door opened at the bottom of the stairs. Squinting from the sudden bright light behind the door, they walked down the stairs.

  “We house thousands of soldiers, thousands of workers – from maintenance to engineers – and forty senators,” Miranda said. “Ironically, this place was built to protect the government officials, but very few were close enough to make it here.”

  “You’d think they would have done anything to get here,” Cooper said.

  “They didn’t know the place existed,” Miranda said. “It was supposed to be our job to go to whatever facility they were assigned to and bring them here. That was the best way to keep this place hidden. Sadly, every facility we found had been infiltrated by the Legion.”