Boston Under Siege (Book 1): Virus:

by Willson, Fisher

  Alexx passed by Ami into the living room using her phone as a light. "Ich?"

  Trips unhitched his replica Claymore broadsword, and yelled,” Ichiro? What are you doing?"

  Ami followed Trips into the living room to find Alexx was leaning on the kitchen wall watching Ichiro work on the circuit breakers. Ichiro swung his head around, his headlamp creating a pool of amber light on the hardwood floor. "About to French press some Italian, my friend."

  "Smells good." Trips fell onto the sofa. "It's a fucking bollacks out there. I'll tell you that."

  Ichiro threw the main electrical switch on the wall. "And done." The lights came on, with the whir of machinery in the background. Alexx wrapped around him as he pointed out the window. "Wired up a bank of solar cells. Gets two kilowatts per panel, passing through the forty-eight-volt battery bank. Invert that energy from 12 volts to 110. Powers the fridge, and the lights, everything. Pretty cool, huh?" Alexx nodded, nuzzling Ichiro. He turned to face Trips. "Mag inverter is in the alcove, dude. Going to need an assist with this beast, though." He kicked the banged-up water tank on the floor and slipped his headlamp off, then he turned to Alexx. "How you doin', babe?"

  Ami sat on the edge of the couch. She wanted to cover her ears and eyes as Ichiro kissed Alexx; instead, she shoved Trips' legs out of the way. "Move over."

  He huffed and pulled up his knees. "Let's just stay here."

  Ichiro closed his toolbox on the dining room table and eyed Trips. "Thought you would have dropped her off, dude."

  Alexx made a face. "C'mon Ich, in the zombie zone? Alone?"

  Ichiro shrugged. "Why not? Stay in, you're safe enough."

  Trips groaned and sat up, eyeing the rusty water heater. "Where the hell'd you get that?"

  Ichiro grazed Alexx's chin with his nose, then turned to Trips. "Scrap metal place. We can invert the pressure valve, no problem." He glanced at Ami. "You should go home. Kind of crowded here now, you know?"

  "Think I will." Ami got up and glanced at Trips. "See ya', Trips."

  "Och, Ami, uh." Trips sighed, watching her exit the room. He turned to Ichiro. "C'mon. Why?"

  Ichiro smirked. A door slammed, and Trips bolted, exchanging a glance with Alexx. Ichiro shook his head. "She won't do it. She's bluffing."

  Trips threw open the apartment door and leaned over the banister, bellowing for Ami. Alexx held the apartment door open and tilted her head toward his room. "She's here, Trips."

  Trips slammed the apartment door. "I'm commandeering that coffee."

  * * *

  They sipped black coffee in amber-pink light that made Ami's eyes vibrate. Trips slipped in behind the electronic drum kit and maneuvered around to a floor-to-ceiling wall of boxes in his room.

  "Can you help me?" he asked, holding out a cardboard box.

  "Just a sec," Ami said, putting her coffee down on the workbench. She felt the heft of the box he was trying to give her. "No way, I can't hold that up, Trips."

  "Okay, look out," he said. He put the box back and picked up the drum kit.

  "I can move the air mattress," Ami said, stepping through the milk crate maze to pick up the limp air mattress. She propped it against the closet doors.

  Trips lifted the drum kit high and put it down unevenly on a slippery pile of magazines.

  "Quick before the dust bunnies gather in the clearing."

  Trips tossed a balled-up sock at her. "Ha, ha, ha."

  "Gross!" She laughed, batting it away. She watched Trips sort through boxes in the center of the room. "You've been planning for Armageddon?"

  "You laugh. My mom sends me stuff all the time," Trips said, considering what he had gathered together as he put back a jar of preserves.

  "You have all this good food stockpiled, and all you want to eat is pizza?"

  Trips scoffed." I'd hardly call lima beans and pickled buzzard good food."

  "Got any beer?"

  Trips snapped his fingers. "No, but I've got a bit of the ol' granary, and cookies." He unearthed Scottish shortbread and four bottles of Scotch. "Should about do it. 'Eh?"

  "We won't starve."

  "Don't judge me, or you'll get none, my girl." He stacked the boxes in the hallway, then listed the rest on his fingers. "Suits, boots, my phone... Where's my charger? Did I leave it in Scotland? I left it in Scotland, didn't I? Jesus."

  Ami shrugged, then walked toward Ichiro’s bedroom, steeling herself as she knocked on his door. She let out a long exhale when Alexx answered dressed in her yellow Kevlar armor.

  "It's night. You're not wearing yours?" Alexx asked.

  Ami looked back toward Trips darting in and out of his room organizing things. "We'll be fine."

  "Yo, Ally, help yo'self to jeans and stuff." Trips said to Alexx, indicating his dresser. He cranked his thumb toward his computer and pointed at the newly duct-taped light switch. "But don't throw the light switch 'cause there's a short and you might blow the system. And then I'd have to kill you."

  Ami turned to face Alexx as she leaned on the doorjamb. "I've decided to go to Ichiro's gig, so I'll be out late, but I'll check in, and Ami, just so you know, we rearranged your apartment for Nightingale Clinic. But I locked all your important stuff in your room."

  Ami arched her neck. "Aw, man, Alexx. You have a clinic? I didn't want..."

  Alexx wasn’t listening. "Extra key in the kitchen drawer. It's kinda cool, you'll see."

  "This was Ichiro's idea?" Ami crossed her arms.

  "Who else? You ready?" Alexx asked, fluffing her hair.

  "Yeah, I guess. Text me from the gig." Ami turned as she heard Trips close his door. He was covered in gear including a Highlander’s sword across his back. "Good lord, it's like we're going on safari."

  "Aye, sahib."

  Chapter 7: Here's Blood In Your Eye

  Approaching Central Square, Ami counted the blown-out streetlamps down Massachusetts Avenue from the backseat of Alexx’s car. Then her gaze shifted from the discount furniture store to the dancing patterns of neon on the wet pavement. Her stomach growled. “Trips, have you brought a way to heat up some supper? ‘Cause all I’ve got is candles.”

  He turned to her from the passenger’s seat. “Shall I enumerate the ways?”

  Alexx lifted a hand from the steering wheel. “Please don’t. Just don’t.”

  Ami’s eyes followed the shadows blotting out her multicolored refractions on the pavement. She straightened. “It isn’t safe here.”

  Trips scanned the road and shook his head. “I don’t see anything.”

  Ami moved into the center of the back seat. “Move, Ally.”

  Alexx squinted at Ami in the rearview. “I can’t.” She pointed at the car in front of her. “Traffic.”

  Ami leaned forward. “Move the car, Ally, now.”

  A red-eyed vampire darted into the street. He grinned and bounced the hood of the car, his stringy black hair slapping his face in the breeze. The car lurched and stalled out. Alexx stomped on the gas and cranked the key. The starter wheezed. “Jesus! C’mon!”

  The vampire’s silver buttons flashed in the headlamps blinding Ami as more surrounded the car. Trips crouched on the front seat and grasped the hilt of his sword. “You’re flooding the engine!”

  “Shut up! I know!” Alexx slammed the gearshift into first as the engine coughed. “Like cats looking at a fishbowl.”

  “Gun it, Al.” Trips slapped his palm over the vampire faces peering in the window. “Just hit 'em! Assholes!”

  Alexx peeled out, and Ami gasped, thrown back into her seat. When Trips asked her if she was okay, she answered yes, but stared into the darkness unsure of what had just happened.

  Alexx stopped the car in front of Ami’s building and turned to face her. “Well, that was weird.”

  Ami regarded her, too tired to react. A rasping laugh made them turn. The same vampire grinned at them. “He followed us.”

  Alexx gunned the engine, forcing the car down a narrow alley between the buildings.

  A
mi saw the vampire’s pale skin glistening in the sodium vapor streetlamp in her mind's eye. She felt the chill in his body. He was so cold. She moved away from the window, ducking into the seat well. She cowered, hearing him skitter across the roof and glanced out the rear window. He wasn’t there. A rustling above caused her to look up through the moon roof. His eyes caught hers, and she couldn’t look away. His teeth gleamed as a laugh erupted from his throat.

  “Trips! Get it off! Get it off the car! Now!” Alexx swerved right, emerging from the alley onto the street. There was another thud. A female vampire was on the hatchback. “Good grief! There are two of them.” Alexx switched on the back wiper. The female vampire broke it off and used it like an icepick on the glass. Alexx exclaimed, “You bitch!”

  “Moon roof! Open the moon roof!” Trips crouched on the passenger’s seat clamping his hand on the hilt of his sword. Alexx pushed a button and the moon roof whined, scrolling back. Trips and Alexx exchanged a glance. A sinewy hand jetted into the cab and grabbed Trips by the scruff of his neck pounding him against the glass. It threw him into the passenger’s door, then pounded him against the ceiling until the moon roof shattered. All but his feet disappeared out the opening.

  * * *

  Alexx swung the car across Memorial Drive into oncoming traffic then skirted back down a one way toward Ami’s apartment. “Trips!”

  He flailed, lying across the windshield, his knees hooked into the car as the vampire lifted him up by his shirt collar and clocked him in the jaw repeatedly. His head and shoulder burned as he tried to roll, his feet peddling, seeking a foothold as Alexx slapped his shins. “Don't step on me, jerk-wipe!”

  Trips rolled the opposite way and yanked the Claymore free from the scabbard at his hip. Swinging wildly, he dealt a deathblow to the female vampire and she fell away from the car as he heaved the heavy blade again. A spike of searing heat ran up his arm into his shoulder leaving him breathless as the sword cracked the back windscreen. The reverberation numbed his back and hands. The vampire lunged and Trips threw his left fist out. He felt the sting of broken skin as his knuckles landed a solid left cross on the vampire’s jaw. Blood and spittle erupted in his face.

  He kicked and found a foothold against the opposite edge of the moon roof. Curling his knees into his chest, he tried to jump up as the vampire dragged him backward into a headlock. He extended one leg into the car and felt Alexx grab his foot and push. He swallowed, fighting the chokehold as he was thrust into the air. Alexx swerved to the left, gaining Trips leverage as he and the vampire rolled onto the hood. He curled his fingers under the hood, swinging from the thin metal, feeling his flesh open, gouged from the hood’s lip as he shoved hard with both feet, kicking the vampire until the creature fell from the car. There was a sickening crunch of bone on asphalt. Trips climbed to the roof and fell into the front seat, panting.

  They watched in the rearview mirror as the vampire popped up like a demented jack-in-the-box and ran after them snarling. Ami collapsed in the back seat as Alexx threw the car into fifth. Trips turned to Alexx. “I thought you said they don’t chase cars like rabid dogs!”

  Alexx cocked an eyebrow, swerving onto a side street and double-parked at the back entrance of Ami’s building. “Guess I was wrong.”

  “One thing's for sure...we should be wearing those freaking suits,” Trips crumpled into a crunch of shattered safety glass. Ami touched his shoulder; he grabbed his chest, his sword cracking into the dash.

  “Aw, Trips!” Alexx pointed at the blade wedged into the glove compartment.

  “I’m sorry.” He wiggled the sword. It squeaked.

  Alexx widened her palms. “Well, don’t twist it! You’ll tear the whole thing off.” She glanced at Trips.

  “Oh, my God, the airbag,” he said.

  Alexx raised her hands in the air. “Don’t ask me why, but lucky for you, Ichiro deactivated them.”

  Trips turned to face them. “Listen. You guys? I know that guy.” He glanced at Alexx. “Sorry about the car.”

  Ami leaned in. “What? What do you mean you know that guy?”

  “That night you ran off. When you broke up with me before we went to the conference in Scotland.”

  “You broke up?” Alexx glanced from Trips to Ami. “You broke up with him?”

  “No.” Ami glared at Alexx, then her eyes shifted back to Trips. “Go on.”

  Alexx glanced at Trips, then addressed Ami, “Why? Why’d you break up?”

  Ami pressed her lips into a hard line, shifting her gaze towards Alexx. “Sandy,” then she zeroed back in on Trips, folding her arms. “Go on.”

  Trips peeked at Alexx, looking sheepish. “She was gettin’ all clingy.” He turned to face Ami. “But that was the guy. He and his skivvy buds were on her, trying to get her to drink tainted water from a little vial saying it was all magical and crap.” He glanced back at Alexx. “This was before we left.” He glanced back at Ami. “He had her like, mesmerized.” He addressed the two of them, palms wide. “I had to do something. I mean, you know? I was going to tell you when we saw Sandy the other day, but Ami got so pissed —”

  Ami raised a hand. “That was a totally different situation! And you’ll notice that she still appears to think there’s something going on between you two.”

  “There isn’t.” Trips shot Alexx a glance looking for moral support, finding none, he hunched up addressing Ami again. “Don't be mad.”

  “I am not mad,” Ami growled, sitting back. “I get that you had to help Sandy in that situation, but you still haven’t convinced her of her present situation.”

  “I think I have to convince you.” Trips muttered as he turned to face front and grasped the hilt of his sword then gingerly worked the embedded blade out of the glove box. It gave way with a loud squeak. He sighed.

  “Nice,” Alexx snorted, examining the cut in the dash. “Don’t think insurance will cover it.”

  “What?” Trips turned to Alexx. “Your insurance doesn’t cover the zombie apocalypse?”

  Chapter 8: Get Thee To A Laboratory

  In the amber glow of emergency lighting, objects cast deep shadows as Ami climbed the stairs to her apartment. Trips called down over the banister. “When you get up here, don't look to the left. Okay?”

  As soon as she got to her floor, she looked left and yelped. Trips bound out of her unit his sword drawn. He sighed, then stood between her and the bloated body. “Told you not to look. I’ll take care of it. Get inside.”

  Don’t order me around, Ami grumbled to herself as she trudged into the kitchen and grabbed the lighter and pack of tea candles in the drawer, then she noticed the key Alexx had mentioned. She shoved the key into her pocket then sat down on a folding chair and splayed out over the empty table in the bare living room, lighting candles. She glanced around at the unfamiliar furniture and Styrofoam surfboards leaning against the walls as she flicked the lighter. Fucking Ichiro, who the hell is he to change my apartment? And what the hell was I thinking coming to the zombie zone? And Trips… She heard Trips come in and turned. “Trips, tell me again, who the hell is that vampire guy?”

  “I don’t know.” Trips shrugged. “I told you, his name is Amos and he was messing with Sandy at The Club.” He sighed, leaning back against the kitchen sink. “An’ I hope I never see him again.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know. You said, but there’s something...I don’t know.” She scrutinized Trips as he unhitched the strap from his scabbard. Did you get blood in your mouth? Please tell me you didn’t get blood in your mouth.

  Trips glanced at her and tried to smile. “Think I need to wear it over my shoulder. It’s weird on my leg, bounces around too much. Ami, you have any of those instant ice packs? My jaw has a marching band in it.”

  She threw up her hands. “I used to, but I don’t know where anything is.”

  “Medicine cabinet? Freezer? Don’t know. Just a guess.”

  “Yeah. Check.” Ami shrugged, and turned toward the bookcase, scanning her textbooks
with a candle. I’m so stupid. You could die. We need to test you for antigens. How do I do that without a kit?

  Trips ambled over to the fridge and yanked open the freezer, then slammed it with a grimace. “Just as well we're here since I've got to report in at oh-eight-hundred tomorrow. Nicer here and stuff. You know, no Ichiro to bother us.”

  Ami fished the padlock key to the bedroom from her jeans and cringed listening to Trips list injuries to his jaw, neck, shoulder, and knuckles.

  She put the candle down on the bookcase and squinted in the low light in front of the bedroom door, then slid the key into the lock and turned it. The padlock clicked and sprang open.

  Ami unhooked the hasp and kicked the door open. Fucking Ichiro.

  “Not diggin’ the new digs?” Trips asked, grabbing the lantern flashlight from his gear and joining Ami in considering the bedroom.

  She eyed Trips as he leaned on the opposite doorjamb and aimed the light into the room. Your back healed overnight, and you don’t seem sick. Maybe you’ll be okay.

  She glanced into the bedroom. Metal filing cabinets and layers of plywood created a sturdy loft piled high with labeled boxes. Under the loft, the bed was against the wall, and the rumpled couch sat perpendicular to it with the records, turntable and CD player tucked in behind it.

  Trips chuckled. “Ichiro managed to shove your entire apartment into one room. Kind of like a ship, everything in its place. Looks like he had an arc welder up here,” Trips said, pointing out the metal joints.

  “It’s a storage area.” Ami huffed, and flopped back on her chair in the living room burying her head in her arms on the table. Damn it. The hospitals are overloaded. What am I going to do?

  Trips set the lantern on the floor and knelt in front of her. “Ami? C’mon, it’s okay. It’s only temporary.”

  Ami sat up. “Trips, you could have been killed!”

  “I'm fine, sweetheart. Little roughed is all.”

  She stood up. “You’re not. You’ve got spooge on your face.”

  “Spooge?” Trips lifted a candle from the table and stepped into the bathroom. The faucets squeaked as he twisted them. “Sheesh, no water at all. This blows! I knew we shouldn't have come here! I knew it!” He stomped out to his gear, shouldered one of the carboys of water, then snapped his fingers pointing at his bag. “Wipes, please?”