"Who are you?" the woman asked.
Jack said nothing, and searched the room for Victoria. She was laying on a table near the back of the lab, her hands folded across her stomach. He went straight to her, leaving the mortals behind to argue. Victoria was paler than usual.
"Victoria?"
She stirred at the sound of his voice. "Took you long enough."
"What the hell is going on here? Are you okay?"
"I haven’t had a drink in a few days. And I can’t drink from them. They’re infected."
"Infected?"
She took a breath. "This all started out as an attempt to cure vampires, but it backfired on them."
He nodded. "Baltimore, two years ago."
"Yes. Well, this time they figured they could control the feral vampires, make weapons out of them. But the virus changed, and now we’re dealing with ghouls."
The man and woman joined them.
"We thought we had everything under control," she said. "When the vampires went wild we opened the ceiling, frying them. But the sunlight didn’t affect some of them, and they changed into what you see now. Our bosses thought they'd make greater weapons, and killed all the vampires. These...ghouls are just as contagious. One bite, and you’ll change."
"Jack, this is Diane," Victoria said. "Her partner, Eli. That irritating bastard over there is Donaldson. They’re all that’s left of this wonderful project."
"You should have called me the moment you found this place," Jack said.
"I tried. No signal. Eli had to rig up something just to get a five second call out to you."
Jack still had many questions, but Victoria’s health was the most important thing.
"These humans are infected?"
"Yes," Diane said sadly. "We’ll be ghouls in another day or so."
"Okay," Jack said, putting a hand under Victoria’s head. "First things first, drink from me."
It was a topic they’d joked about before, but never had to entertain.
"You really think that will work?"
"My blood is human, just with a little magic spell. I’ll heal as you’re drinking. I’ll be fine."
"What...are you?" Eli asked.
"Shut up. You ready?"
Victoria nodded, and Jack helped her up. Her fangs grew as she angled for his neck.
"Are you crazy?" he said. "There’s no reason to make this erotic. Drink from my arm. It’s weird enough I’ll be getting a hard-on from you."
She smirked, and sank her fangs into his forearm above the wrist. Jack felt no pain, didn’t even feel the blood leaving his body. But he did feel aroused, like earlier in the laundry room with Erica.
"That's about enough," he said after a minute.
Victoria held up an index finger, drawing a chuckle from Jack. She continued to drink, and he had to grab the edge of the lab table to help keep focus.
"Victoria, I really don't feel like shooting a load with walking corpses all over the place."
She pulled her fangs from his flesh and watched the wounds heals instantly. The color returned to her cheeks as she smiled and swung her legs over the table.
"Holy shit. Your blood tastes...very good."
"That's what all the women say," he said, shifting his jeans slightly as the arousal faded away. "I ran into three ghouls getting up here. You could have escaped at any time, even running off of little blood."
"I know. But it's not about escape, Jack. This place has to die."
"You're right."
She raised an eyebrow. "I am?"
"We're an hour away from Parkville. There's no way I'm letting this get out. I'm adopting Tiffany, and Erica, well...we've got some new things we're gonna try out soon."
"Getting soft," she said..
"Yeah, I know. I'm not exactly happy about it."
"You two shut the fuck up," Donaldson said. "Listen, we can't just destroy this place. We're so close. We're dealing with the future here, and we can't kill it just because a vampire and some freak says so-"
Jack raised his gun and shot Donaldson in the head, not caring if the ghouls heard. He couldn't take one more word out of his mouth. Donaldson fell to the ground between two examination tables. Diane opened her mouth to scream, but Eli hugged her from behind and covered her mouth.
"So much for soft," Victoria muttered.
Jack approached Eli and Diane, looking them both in the eye.
"I'm going to destroy this place. Every computer, every ghoul. Are either one of you gonna tell me otherwise?"
They shook their heads in unison.
"Okay, now, tell me what you mean by you being infected?"
Diane held up her hand to reveal a bite mark. It wasn't ugly or bleeding, but it did break the skin. Eli gestured to his shoulder.
"We've both been bit. We've been taking some medicine we cooked up to slow it down, but there is no cure."
"Then you'll both die, too."
A tear ran down Diane's cheek and her lip quivered, but she held it together. Eli put a hand on her shoulder and nodded.
"We know."
He looked at Victoria. "Can you handle the ghouls?"
"I don't know. There are a lot of them out there. And you might be immune, but I have no idea of what a bite from one of them would do to me. I'm sure I can take a lot, but those bastards swarm like bees."
The corner of his mouth lifted. "Too bad there's not a witch nearby we could kill."
"Very funny."
"Hold on," Eli said. "I might have an idea. Diane, come here."
The two walked to a nearby computer as Victoria jumped down from the table. She stretched her arms over her head, obviously feeling better. Jack read the sadness and frustration in her eyes.
"What's wrong?"
"Just...mortals. They're so determined to kill themselves. They never learn. First it was spears and rocks. Then, it was guns and bombs. Now, it's this bullshit, twenty-first century science and medicine. I cracked that laptop. This whole thing is privately funded by a few billionaires who want to make even more billions."
"I know what you mean. I hate technology."
"This is it," Eli said. "This will work."
Jack and Victoria joined the mortals and hovered over the computer. Eli had a diagram of the facility on the monitor and typed quickly at the keyboard.
"What are we looking at here?" Jack said, handing over his guns to Eli and Diane.
"It's an old security measure we took when we were first dealing with the drone vampires. We can flood the labs on the first floor with gas and blow the shit out of them."
Victoria shook her head. "That’s it? Ghouls won’t go down to fire right away, and they’re scattered all over the place. Blowing up the labs won’t take many out."
"We’ll open the doors," Diane said. "Let them vent as much as possible. We should be able to burn out the whole first floor."
Jack leaned on the desk. "Okay, so we lure as many as we can from outside and the other floors. If we can just knock their numbers down some, Victoria and I should be able to handle the rest. How do you flood the labs?"
"From Munroe’s computer, on the first floor. He ran this place. Only his computer had access."
The door to the lab splintered, and then flew open. Three ghouls bunched up in the doorway as they tried to force their way inside, with plenty more behind them. Jack didn’t hesitate, and sprinted across the lab. He tackled the lead ghoul and pushed them all back into the hallway, collapsing on the group of them.
He tried to climb to his feet, but a ghoul grabbed his leg, throwing him off balance. Another climbed on his chest and bit into his face. Death and decay was all around him, attacking him.
Victoria grabbed the ghoul on his chest and tossed it down the hallway into another group. She reeled back as a ghoul snapped its jaws dangerously close to her arm, and stepped forward to kick it in the face. She took Jack’s hand and pulled him to his feet. Eli and Diane stood in the doorway and fired at the group down the hall.
"We’ll get as many on the first floor as we can," Victoria said. "Can you two make it to the labs and do your thing?"
Eli nodded. "I think so. But look, if we leave those lab doors open, we’re sitting ducks. So if you’re rounding them up, be very fast."
"I can do that," Victoria said, and ran into the office next to them. She jumped through the window, drawing gasps from the mortals.
"She’ll be fine," Jack said.
He turned his attention to the ghouls pulling themselves to their feet, nearly twenty of them. Eli and Diane jumped behind him as they backed down the hall.
"There’s at least two in the stairwell. Be careful. I’ll start gathering them."
"What are you?" Diane asked. "Even the vampire is worried about getting bit."
"I’m cursed," he said. "It’s funny. I was cursed by a witch. These ghouls were cursed by you."
"It was an accident. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. We were just trying to understand it."
Jack wasn't surprised at their naivety. He actually believed them, even if their superiors had other motives in mind.
"This is your chance to fix it all. Go. I’ll round up what I can and find you later."
"That's not much of a plan," Diane said.
"You want to stay here and discuss some more? Get moving."
Eli and Diane vanished into the stairwell. Jack held the door open and waited patiently for the ghouls. The mortals shouted in fright in the stairwell. He looked down and saw a flash from their guns before hearing their footsteps once again.
"Let’s go, guys," he said to the ghouls. "We’ve got things to do."
The slow-moving walking corpses pursued as he moved calmly down the stairs. He pushed the door open to the second floor and jammed it open. Ghouls from the second floor moved toward him.
"That's it," he taunted. "Let's keep it moving."
Jack stepped over two dead ghouls as he made it to the first floor. The exit door to his left was open, and a blur with red eyes stopped in front of him, the moon and night behind her.
"Are you doing okay?" Victoria asked.
He looked her up and down. Her clothes were soaked in blood, gore and tissue dangling from her claws. Her fangs were out and slurred her speech.
"Not as good as you, apparently."
"I'm killing what I can. Almost got bit twice, though. I've got a nice little crowd following me."
He nodded. "Happy hunting."
She ran away, forming into a blur once again as his eyes couldn't keep up with her speed. The ghouls from the stairwell caught up, and he had to duck to avoid being grabbed. A few ghouls stumbled in from outside as more poured out of the stairwell.
He didn't have any idea of the layout of the facility. As he passed by every office and room he tapped on the walls, drawing more of them.
There was a scream around the corner. He turned to see Diane on the floor. One ghoul had its teeth in her arm while two more slowly marched toward her. Her gun lay just out of reach. Jack rushed to her side and grabbed the ghoul. Not having time to be gentle, he ripped it away from her, taking part of her arm with it. She screamed in pain and tried to climb to her feet. He helped her up and grabbed the gun to hand it to her. She fired wildly at the ghoul, her own flesh still in its mouth, taking three shots to find its head.
"Where's your friend?" Jack asked.
"Eli's heading to the computer to start the gas. I opened all the lab doors."
Jack grabbed her hand and started down the hallway, deeper into the facility. There were two ghouls in front of them, and many more behind. Diane stopped and pulled on his arm.
"No! Follow me."
She ducked into a side office, Jack a step behind. A ghoul moaned in frustration as it missed grabbing his shoulder. He shut the office door behind him and locked it.
"There's another door over there," Diane said. "We can hit the next hall and pass the conference room."
Jack watched Diane as she bent over and held her injured arm. Blood trickled down her fingers and dripped to the floor. She coughed violently. He approached her and touched her shoulder as the pounding outside the office grew louder.
"Are you gonna make it?"
"I'll be fine."
His face scrunched up as he smelled gas.
"Eli made it," Diane said, trying to smile. "What do we do now?"
"We head to the labs, taking as many of these bastards with us that we can. We let the gas flow, and then up she goes. No more shooting until then."
Diane reached for a phone on the nearby desk and hit the page button.
"Eli, go to the labs," she said, her voice echoing throughout the facility. "Head to lab 102, if you can."
Jack took her hand and rushed to the other door. A ghoul stood on the other side, wandering aimlessly in the hall. It perked up when it saw Jack, and stretched its arms. He kicked its leg out, sending it to the floor.
It took them five minutes to make it to lab 102. They had to duck into a few side offices, let a ghoul or two wander by. A ghoul lunged from the bathroom as they passed, trying to bite into Diane. Jack jumped in front of her to protect her, to save her from any more pain. The ghoul bit his arm, drawing blood. He flung it to the ground and stomped on its skull until it cracked. His arm had already healed before the ghoul was dead. Science and technology were powerful, but a magical curse was stronger.
The smell of gas grew stronger as they turned another corner, and Jack knew they were close. He heard Eli cry in pain, and the sound of a ghoul feasting.
They stepped into lab 102. Dead ghouls were strapped to tables, some overturned on the floor. Eli weakly fought with a ghoul against the wall, its teeth already latched onto his arm. Jack rushed to his aid, pulling the ghoul away and stabbing it through the eye with a pen from a nearby table.
"Where's your gun?" Jack asked.
"I lost it on the way here."
A ghoul moaned as it stumbled into the lab. Jack pushed every table in the way, wanting to slow them down as much as possible. Another ghoul showed up, and then another.
Victoria's voice boomed over the intercom.
"Hey," she said. "Most of them are inside. I've locked them in."
Jack reached for the phone on the corner desk. "Just get outside. We'll light this place up in another minute."
Diane slouched against the wall next to Eli and slid down to the floor next to him.
"I bet you wish you'd taken me up on that date now," Eli said.
She laughed before leaning her head on his good shoulder. "You wouldn't have been able to handle me."
Jack watched them both as he shoved more tables near the door. They were covered in blood, their skin pale. Diane coughed violently again as Eli rubbed her back. Jack hoped he could one day face death like they were, with strength and dignity.
"I've seen a lot of death," he said. "You two are handling it better than most."
"Make sure this doesn't get out," Eli said. "Make sure our mistake doesn't hurt anyone else."
He nodded. "Count on it."
More ghouls forced their way into the lab. Jack leaned against the wall next to Eli and Diane. He took the gun from her and waited patiently as ghouls pushed tables out of the way, tripping and falling over each other.
"There's Dr. Barnes," Diane said, pointing at a ghoul. "He tried to grab my ass an hour before this shit started."
"I wished you would have told me. I would have punched him."
Jack smiled, and looked up at the vents. The gas continued to pour in, as did the ghouls. A ghoul tripped as it drew near, landing near Diane's foot.
"I'd say we're about ready," Jack said.
Diane nodded, tears rolling down her face. She grabbed Eli by the chin and kissed him. Jack aimed at the closest vent and pulled the trigger. The single spark was all it took, and Jack closed his eyes as the lab exploded around him.
Ghouls howled, but he wasn't sure if it was in pain or simply confusion. He felt his clothes burning, and a table flew and struck him, knock
ing him to the ground.
A minute later he pulled himself to his feet, stunned at the destruction around him. Only a single light hung from the ceiling, throwing shadows across the lab. Ghouls lay around him and crawled as their bodies burned. Some were dead outright, blood and organs on the floor. Jack felt a sense of déjà vu as he inhaled the scent of death.
"Jack! Are you in here somewhere?"
Victoria walked through the hole that used to be the wall to the lab. She casually killed ghouls as she went, either with a stomp to the head or a claw through the neck.
"I'm here. How'd we do?"
"The whole first floor is toast. We killed over half easily. There's a few scattered in the yard still, and I'm sure there's more on the other floors. But we can handle it now. Just get some rest, and we'll finish up. Then we'll burn this place to the ground."
He laughed as he looked at his ruined clothes, and groaned when he pulled out his destroyed iPhone. "Get some rest. Funny."
"Mental rest, whatever."
"I'm fine. Let's hurry it up and get this done. Tiffany has to go to school in a few hours."
She smiled and slapped him on the shoulder. "I'll call some people as soon as I can to help with cleanup. Thank you. I needed all the help I could get."
"Yeah, yeah. You're welcome."
They walked together to the closest exit into the night air. A lonely ghoul limped toward them that Victoria easily dispatched with a swipe of her claw.
"This sure beats a boring night in, doesn't it?" she asked.
"A year ago, I would have told you yes."
EPILOGUE
Tiffany ran a lap around the living room before stopping in front of the iPad. She waved at Jack as he watched her through Skype before taking off for another lap.
"Uh, Tiffany, it's hard to talk to you when you're running like a crazy girl."
"Tiffany," Erica called from the kitchen. "You might want to slow down a little in there before you pass out."
She stopped in front of the iPad and took deep breaths. Jack laughed and shook his head at his daughter.
"Are you being good for Erica? And I'm not just talking about at the house, but in school, too?"
She nodded. "Of course," she said defiantly. "Don't be mad, but I've told everyone at school that you're my family now."
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