by Adam Thielen
Matthias strained to bring his arms up, covering his face as the ghoul stabbed downward. It tore into his forearms, and Matthias responded by grabbing its wrists. The ghoul opened its mouth, hissing. Matthias kicked the ghoul’s knees, knocking its feet out from under it. He then wrapped his legs around the ghoul’s waist. The ghoul tried to wrest free, but was little match for Matthias’s strength. Matthias let go of one wrist and swung a leg over the ghoul’s shoulder and around its neck. He locked that leg’s foot behind his other leg’s knee, trapping the ghoul’s neck in a triangle choke.
Matthias pushed off with a shoulder, rolling over on top of the ghoul, with its head still trapped. The ghoul’s free hand continued to claw and cut at his waist. Matthias reached for a dagger on the wall, but could not reach it. He grabbed a handgun instead. He pointed it at the ghoul’s forehead and pulled the trigger.
*Click*. It was empty. Matthias flipped it around in his hand, grabbing the barrel. He swung downward into the ghoul’s face, caving in its forehead and submerging the entire handle in the creature’s brain. The ghoul went limp immediately. Matthias wriggled the gun free, stared at the bloody handle, then dropped it. He stumbled to his feet, his clothes now soaked with his own blood, and looked at the wall.
Matthias had never been so happy to see so many guns. But as he tried to decide which ones to take, a gleam of metal caught his eye. It was a katana with a straight single-sided blade. Its hilt had a simple oval guard, and the handle was round with a wrapped grip. The blade had a silver lining and a diamond edge. Matthias plucked it from the wall and swung it about the small room, twirling it about. He plunged it downward into the heart of the ghoul with satisfaction. To his surprise, it didn’t react; it must have died from the bludgeoning.
Matthias put on a thin Kevlar vest, as he was tired of getting slashed and stabbed. He sheathed the blade and strapped it onto his back. He grabbed a small dagger, much like the one he lost in the hotel, along with a clean handgun and matching clips. Matthias couldn’t resist grabbing two flash-bang grenades as well. He approached the armory exit, unsheathed his new blade, and flipped the lever to the ‘unlock’ position. It was time to clean house.
* * *
Taq, Tamra, and Kate sat in the sedan outside a dilapidated ranch style house, the first of many such houses in the neighborhood of Blue Hills. Groundwater contamination made the area hazardous many years before oil and natural gas deposits ran dry. For a short time, it was an ideal area to construct neural synthesizers. When supplies of heavy metal became regulated, the plants became obsolete.
“My grandparents lived in this area when they were young,” remarked Tamra. “Always talked about the mining boom.”
“I heard it’s dangerous even being here with all the heavy metal contamination,” said Taq.
“Stories, I think,” replied Tamra.
“This place is heavily contaminated,” stated Kate flatly. “It interferes with my NID’s radios. It makes me… uneasy.”
“Everything about this place makes me uneasy,” replied Taq.
Tamra looked at Kate. “What are we doing here?”
“Matthias said to stake this place out, and he would meet up with us at dusk,” she explained.
“We have an hour to kill then,” said Tamra.
“If he’s here, and he’s hiding from daylight, shouldn’t we strike now?” asked Taq.
“Don’t be foolish,” said Kate.
“Devil’s advocate—if we wait till dusk, couldn’t this Paul Winter simply flee?” asked Tamra.
“Are you two being serious?”
“Kate, last time this thing was awake, nothing could stop it. Maybe if it’s sleeping…” suggested Taq.
“We are missing one detail,” said Kate.
“Yeah, what’s that?” asked Tamra
“How to actually kill it,” answered Kate.
“I suggest a silver bullet to the face,” said Taq.
“If he’s even here,” said Tamra. “If not, this is a big waste of time.”
Kate looked knowingly at Taq. Taq grimaced.
“Last time I did that, it did not go well.”
“Did what?” asked Tamra.
“Like you said, maybe if it’s sleeping-,” snarked Kate.
“Asleep, it might be waiting to rip me apart,” Taq said, sighing.
“Ethereal travel, that’s what you are talking about,” Tamra said, figuring it out. “I thought I knew everything about you.”
“I’m just full of secrets,” said Taq. “If I don’t die here in a minute maybe I’ll tell you another.”
“Like how you fooled the bracelet.”
“Never happened,” maintained Taq.
“You don’t have to do this…but it does seem logical,” said Kate.
Taq nodded. He closed his eyes and lay down in the back seat of the car. Tamra felt the Ether energy through her polonium implants. Kate stared at the faint blue glow emanating from underneath her clothing.
Taq looked around as he entered the Ether. Near him he saw a white aura, seeming to draw in the natural darkness of the plane. It resembled watching a snowstorm through a human-shaped window. It existed where Tamra was sitting. He found its presence distracting and could see particles of his aura break away from his form and fall into the storm. Realizing he was charging her polonium with his presence, he moved away from her and began searching for telltale bluish-green auras of the fiends.
* * *
Tamra and Kate waited nervously in the sedan as Taq’s eyes darted about underneath his lids. The deteriorating buildings surrounding them cast deep shadows across the terrain, often overlapping each other. The inside of the car became quiet, with only the sound of a far off bird’s occasional chirp and a slight breeze brushing against gravel. Kate kept her stream analysis in the background to stay ready for any action, but the silence was becoming unbearable. She squirmed slightly in her seat and eyed the radio controls at the front of the car.
Tamra enjoyed the quiet, but after a minute long battle between curiosity and tranquility, curiosity won. “So you’re a hacker?”
Kate wasn’t sure if it was a question, nor did she like a word that oversimplified her role, but she breathed a small sigh of relief that she didn’t have to speak first. “I suppose,” she said. “My brain, well parts of it, are mapped to implants to enhance data… manipulation.” It took her a moment to settle on the best description. It wouldn’t beat her imagined word of ‘datamancer’, but it would do.
“Right, a neuro. That’s not offensive is it?” Tamra asked.
“Not a bit,” she assured. “Now toaster-brain, bothead, silica slut, techmeat—”
“I can’t even say techmeat these days?” Tamra jested.
Kate laughed, letting it settle into a smile. “I’m proud of what I’ve done, the steps I’ve taken. I imagine you must feel similar about your polonium.”
“You know about that?”
“Rumors, but when I saw the glow, I knew it must be true,” said Kate.
“I didn’t think of that,” she sighed. “The things we do to ourselves. But yes, I was proud to join mage enforcement, at one time.”
“At one time?” prodded Kate.
“Still am, maybe just a little less. Too much corporate influence,” she explained.
Kate nodded. “I lost something when I got these,” she pointed behind her ear. “Sometimes I feel like I’m drifting away from the shore.”
“I am a few years ahead of you, and I think that’s how we all feel,” lamented Tamra.
The silence started to creep back into the cabin, but Kate thwarted it. “So, how long have you been a warden?”
“Not long, actually,” she replied, looking forward. “I was promoted from sentinel a month ago.”
“Sentinel? How long did you have to do that before moving up?”
“Heh,” Tamra half-chuckled. “I was a sentinel for a long time. A lot longer than I should have been.”
“Was warden training dif
ficult?” Kate followed-up.
“I used to think so,” she replied. “Now I’m not sure if it was, or if I was just young and lazy. I still go in for training, and there’s courses we have to take periodically, tests we have to pass.”
“Tests? Like what kind?”
“Weapon handling, survival, triage. There’s also courses on magic use. We actually try to learn as much as the mages about spellcasting,” answered Tamra. “So how did you get into hacking for money?”
“I just kind of fell into it,” said Kate. “I wasn’t trying to start a business; I just wanted to know what was going on. Understand the world better.”
“How did you learn… what you do?” asked Tamra, a little uncertain at what Kate actually did.
“It’s a long story” she started. “I went to school for a while for coding and started developing my own tools to analyze systems software, to look for bugs that could be exploited. I got bored, dropped out, and used the rest of my money to gear up. Started hanging with other hackers. I guess that was a sort of training.”
Tamra looked down. “You like it, as work I mean?”
Kate shrugged. “It’s a job, and it’s a better than most of what’s out there.”
* * *
Taq saw not one, but four fiendish auras. Taq went to each one, peering into the physical realm to note the houses or buildings they occupied. Only one lay prone and motionless. Taq cautiously approached. The aura turned bright green.
“Taq,” a voice called.
“Winter?” Taq asked mentally.
“Not Winter. Winter was weak. You are weak.”
“What are you?” Taq asked.
“Join us, and be strong,” the voice commanded.
Taq felt a compulsion to touch the green aura. He looked around and saw the other auras converging on Tamra’s white aura. Taq peered at the green aura and felt a connection tugging at his mind. The creature was somehow familiar, but he couldn’t excavate from his own mind why. He let go of the feeling as the other auras closed in on the car. Taq flew back to his body and woke himself.
“They are coming,” he said.
Episode 4: Showdown
Frank slumped down in his seat. He felt fatigued during the daytime hours, even without direct exposure to light. After over an hour in the helicopter, traveling east, the sun began to dip under the horizon. Across from Frank sat a vampire and a human, both in business attire. One was councilman Peter Guero, one of the few members to support Frank at the meeting. Guero had also vouched for Frank when his first introduction to the nocturnal race did not go smoothly. When he asked Frank to go on a helicopter ride, even during the day, he felt obliged.
The other man had been introduced only as a friend, but Frank could tell there was more to it than that. Even in a shielded chopper, none of the three were enjoying the trip. Frank knew that if it was bad for him, it was worse for Guero, who was of paler complexion. Frank was one of the vampires most resilient to the ‘allergies’ that plagued his brethren.
As the aircraft passed into twilight, the demeanor of the vampires changed. They sat upright and began fidgeting in their seats. Now thirsty, they began to drink from small bottles filled with a mixture of blood and water enhanced with electrolytes and minerals. The human sat quietly.
After a few minutes of awkward silence, Frank spoke. “Mr. Guero, can you tell me where we are going now? Or maybe simply why we are going there?”
The other man, the friend, answered for him. “Not, yet, Mr. Kerwin.”
“Just call me Frank, alright?”
The man nodded.
“Soon, Frank,” said Mr. Guero. “Soon, we can lower the blinds and you can see where we are going. I know this is odd, but it will be worth the wait.”
Frank pulled out a stick of gum and sat back in his seat. He considered it unlikely that they were about to drop him out of the helicopter without a chute and tried to relax. He felt exhausted already, and his eyes started to feel heavy. Frank started to drift off when light entered the cabin. The protective blinds on the choppers windows had lifted, and the opaque screens were now off.
Frank sat up and looked out the window beside him. He was surprised to see clouds below him. He spotted a crescent moon above. Far below he could see land and buildings, but at their altitude, none were recognizable.
“We’re near the east coast,” said Mr. Guero.
“I still don’t get it,” replied Frank.
“Take him to the flight cabin,” said the friend.
Guero stood and opened the door behind him and led Frank into the flight cabin where a human pilot was seated. Mr. Guero sat beside him. Frank stood behind them. He stared out the windshield and thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. Some sort of structure was suspended in the air in front of the helicopter. He continued to stare. Guero looked up at him with a childish grin.
Frank thought he was looking at a large monocopter or zeppelin, but as they approached it became clear that it was much too large to be anything but an island in the sky. It appeared boxy, like a square or pentagon, Frank couldn’t tell which. It had squat, flat walls connecting enormous cylinders at each corner of the building. Not a building, Frank thought.
“This is some kind of fortress?” he mumbled.
“This is Haven,” declared Guero, with arms outstretched.
The helicopter gained in altitude, revealing the surface of the flying fortress. It was covered with aircraft of different makes and strangely even some wheeled vehicles. A few small buildings existed, including what must have been maintenance shacks and lookout towers. Satellite dishes sat on the edges of the roof, pointing up and away from the center. The enormous cylinders opened at the top and bottom. Inside appeared as a blur, with a thin layer of smoke emanating and light refracting waves. “Some sort of turbines,” concluded Frank.
He looked down at Mr. Guero in disbelief.
“Incredible isn’t it?” asked Guero.
“I’d say impossible if I weren’t looking directly at it,” Frank answered looking back at the flying fortress.
A few minutes later, the helicopter landed on a bare spot along rows of other choppers. Two men in security garb greeted them outside and ushered them down a short set of stairs and through a steel door with a wheel latch. The interior was a mixture of spartan steel corridors and construction found in a typical office building. Thin corridors gave way to faux wood panels, a few small offices, and an elevator. The security detail escorted Guero, his friend, and Frank down the hallway. Since he had not had a bag put over his head, or told to do otherwise, Frank stared into any open doorway and corridor they passed.
After taking the elevator and doing more walking around, the men stopped outside of a set of wooden double-doors. The friend opened one of the doors and went in. Frank followed. Guero and the guards waited outside, closing the door behind him.
Inside was a dimly lit office with a couch, displays and bookshelves along the walls. On the other end of the room was a thin, middle-aged woman with ashen colored skin and silver hair. She sat behind a desk sliding her fingers along its built in console. On the wall behind her were several certificates of recognition from various academic institutions. Frank noticed that some looked particularly dated. He made out the name “Scarlet Makida” on one.
“Ms. Makida, the man dealing with the fiend,” Guero’s friend introduced Frank.
“Have a seat,” she motioned toward a chair in front of her desk. “You too, Barry.”
Both men sat. Frank had never seen a vampire of such complexion. She was of Japanese descent, and he figured her to be ancient.
“Mr. Kerwin, correct?” she asked him.
“You can call me Frank.”
“Let’s keep things formal for now,” she looked down at her screen. Frank could not see what was on it, as it was polarized to provide a strict viewing angle to the person sitting at the desk. She looked up. “You must have a lot of questions. Asking them will have to wait.”
�
��What’s all this about?” he asked, sitting up in his seat. He met Scarlet’s gaze, though he could hear Barry fidget in his seat.
She stared at him for a brief moment before answering. “This is Haven. It’s an empire, a legacy, and a destiny. It contains most of what’s left of active plutonium. It has mobility, access to most communication satellites, and an arsenal of weaponry and vehicles,” she took a breath. “We are vampires, but we are not the council’s vampires. The council is a bunch of ignorant bean counters. We are the true protectors of our kind, and soon we will be leaders as well.”
“You are going to conquer the world?” Frank asked with a smile.
“Choose to believe or disbelieve, I care not,” she smiled back. “But that is a mere synopsis of what Haven is. We are meant for more than skulking in the shadows. You are too.” Makinda leaned back into her chair. “With that out of the way, Mr. Kerwin, we need to get down to business. I know you can’t be satisfied with how the council has handled this situation. Mr. Guero has told me as much.”
“You have that much correct,” he replied.
“We have a lot to offer someone who can coordinate an assault team and knows the gravity of a situation. We— I, wanted to bring you into our fold,” Scarlet Makida stood up and walked around the desk. She perched on the edge close to Frank. His eyes instinctively moved to her knees sticking out of a red short skirt and quickly back up to her face.
“We need to get you back down to Matthias and salvage what we can of the situation. Barry will explain on the way. Then we can talk about your place in the world. Guero says you are capable of more than being a council lackey. Convince me,” she lowered herself from the desk.
“So all the way up here and that’s it?” Frank asked. He and Barry stood.
“That’s it,” she said. “I wish things weren’t so urgent, but I doubt I could have made such an impression on you over a comscreen.”