“Why don’t we get some more women involved? Leon’s wife is just as fearsome as any guard I’ve ever met. Only last week, he got into a scrap with her and ended up with a black eye.”
“No,” Hank snapped back. “No more women. We’re still cleaning up the last mess we made when we got the ladies involved. They don’t think like men. They’re far too sensitive. Won’t obey orders the same.”
Hendrick opened his mouth to reply, then closed it when he saw the dark expression on Hank’s face.
Hank sat a moment, listening to the voices in the streets as the excited new guards discussed their responsibilities with each other. He often forgot how much of an honor it was to serve the governor. Many men offered their lives each year, only to be turned down when they didn’t quite meet the credentials required to join. Now, an entire new cohort had been given an opportunity to serve.
And likely die.
After taking the girl down and capturing the vamp.
Hopefully.
“What did Leon do to make his wife so pissed?” Hank asked.
“Something to do with sticking it to Mother Wendy.”
Hank raised an eyebrow. “You’re kidding?”
Hendrick shrugged.
“Well, let’s go kick these deadbeats into gear,” Hank said, rubbing his tired eyes. “We’ve got to make vampire hunters out of children.”
Prison District, Silver Creek
At first, Sullivan could see nothing when he walked through the archway and into the gloom. He darted back and pulled a torch off the wall and waved it in front of him, squinting and covering his nose as he looked into the empty jail cells.
Hygiene didn’t seem to be a factor here. Damp straw littered the floors, questionable stains clumping in patches and something dark and red that looked like blood.
“Dylan?” Sullivan whispered? “Captain?”
A gentle cough sounded to his left. He turned, shone the light in front of him, and saw Dylan tucked into the corner, wrapped up in his traveling cloak.
“About fucking time you showed up,” Dylan croaked. “What the hell are you doing here? The guards…they’ll slaughter you if they catch you.”
Sullivan smiled and held the bars. “They’ll have to catch me first.”
He nodded over to the entranceway where the two guards were unconscious on the floor.
“Nice,” Dylan said, his grin growing wide. “But what are you supposed to do now? I heard the guards talking before, after I last saw the governor. Another prisoner escaped and ran off with the key. They say it was their only one, so unless you’ve got something strong enough to break through metal, I’m kind of trapped—”
Sullivan fished in his pocket and pulled out the key Kain had given to him. “You mean, like this?”
Dylan’s eyes grew wide. “But…how? Does that mean you—” He checked to see that the guards were still unconscious. “You met him?”
“Who?” Sullivan asked, already fiddling with the key in the lock. “Oh, the Were?”
He said it so casually that Dylan was taken aback. “Kain? Yeah. Did you see it? Did you see him transform?”
The gate creaked open. Dylan stepped outside for the first time in several weeks. He stretched.
“No, he didn’t transform. I did ask, though. He just made his eyes glow a bit. Was super creepy, to be honest.”
Sullivan proceeded to tell Dylan about how he had helped Kain find his way outside the walls. He related how they had snuck him out as a ranger, then parted ways in the forest.
“And what of my sister? Is she alive? Is she home?”
Sullivan smiled, reeling off the information he had overheard at Mother Wendy’s tavern. Caitlin was very much alive and, it seemed, forming her own army to bring back to Silver Creek and storm the gates. Sullivan even filled Dylan in on Hank’s recruitment efforts. Every man in town was jumping at the chance to join the ranks of the guards and serve the town to prove themselves to the governor.
“Shit. It’s really starting to heat up right now,” Dylan said, stroking his chin.
“Yeah. There’s a storm coming,” Sullivan replied.
“No, you idiot,” Dylan said. “Watch that torch! It’s catching on my cloak!”
Sullivan muttered an apology before they hurried out of the prison. Daylight filtered down the far end of the tunnel, illuminating the stairs.
Four guards now stood there with shit-eating grins on their faces.
“Well…fuckety fuck fuck fuck,” Sullivan said.
“Hey, that’s my line.”
The guards drew their swords and pointed back to the cells, giving Dylan and Sullivan no choice but to obey.
Their captors closed the gate and muttered something about negligence as they kicked their comrades on the floor in turn as they passed.
They were gone not long after.
The idiots, fortunately, never thought of taking the key.
Chapter Twenty
Abandoned Airship, Silver Creek Forest
Caitlin rose from bed with a smile on her face. Despite the years of wear on the ship, the bed was the most comfortable thing she had ever slept in. She was surrounded by some of the most amazing people she’d ever met, and training had gone better than planned across all teams. Ash, Mary-Anne, and even Alice were doing her proud.
She stood up, rubbed her eyes, and thought of her brother. It wasn’t hard to imagine how his face would shine with joy when she rescued him. No matter what would happen over the next few days, she would try her hardest to ensure that hers was the first face Dylan would see when he was given his freedom.
And she couldn’t wait.
She crossed the bedroom, running her hands along the furniture and trinkets that decorated the room. Oil lamps with no oil. Old posters and maps from journeys long gone. Scratches and holes in the wood from Lord only knew what.
On the floor, next to a dresser that had toppled to its side lay, a photo frame with an image inside. A man and woman stood side-by-side. They were beautiful together. Her hair was as light as his was dark, and they were clearly in love. She wondered what had happened to them. Perhaps they were the residents who had flown the ship, or maybe relatives or friends of the old captain.
Outside, the air was crisp and breezy. Caitlin stretched and strode down to the grass where Kain sat with two others around the dying embers of the fire.
“I was going to go out and fetch some wood, Caitlin,” a man whom Caitlin had come to know as Vex said as she approached. “But Kain mentioned that today was the day we’d be moving out and not to bother. Is that true? Has it already been three days?”
Caitlin nodded. “That’s right, beefcake.” She said the words ironically, but they seemed to boost Vex’s ego despite his skinny frame. “Best prepare to saddle up and take down the bad guys, because I need you all to bring your A-game today. Okay?”
Vex nodded, an eager look on his face.
“Go rouse the others,” Caitlin said, nodding her head at the ship. “We leave in ten. Anyone left behind stays behind.”
Did Caitlin want to leave anyone behind? Not really. But, dammit, she knew that if she wanted to lead the Revolutionaries, she would have to do so with a stern rule. They needed all the bodies she could get. But she needed them to work for her, too.
“What about Ma?” Vex asked, turning around as he ran halfway to the ship. “She can’t travel in daylight.”
Caitlin and Kain exchanged glances before he nodded. “We’ve got it covered.”
Silver Creek Forest
They traveled through the woods in something close to silence. Caitlin led from the front atop Shitallion with Alice and Ash on one side and Kain and Jaxon on the other.
Following a little way behind, in three rows of two, six Revolutionaries carried a large handmade casket which housed the sleeping Mary-Anne. Over the last few days, Caitlin, Kain, and a few volunteers had worked their asses off to meet Mary-Anne’s sleeping requirements. The casket was the exact height, depth, a
nd width fit for a female vampire and, most importantly, was impervious to sunlight.
They hoped.
A goddamn genius contraption, if Caitlin did say so herself. A way to remain portable while living by the clock of a vampire.
At first, Mary-Anne had been impressed by the entire construction, climbing into the casket without hesitation. But now, it seemed that the ride was maybe not as smooth as she had wished. A couple of times along the way, one of the volunteers carrying her stumbled, causing the casket to dip and shake. They heard her muffled shouts from inside and, while the volunteers looked terrified at the prospect of facing Mary-Anne’s wrath, Kain and Caitlin laughed into their hands.
“If you sons-of-bitches don’t learn to drive steady, I’ll find somewhere nice, cozy, and tight to stick those carrying poles right up into your—”
“They get it, Ma!” Caitlin called back, shutting Mary-Anne up in an instant.
Around midday, they started to slow their approach. Aware that they would soon reach Silver Creek’s borders, they listened carefully for any sign of Mad or others lurking in the woods. While the sun made them feel much more at ease in the trees, they all knew the dangers that lurked out in the wild.
Many still had the zombie blood on their clothes from their last scrap.
Caitlin made a mental note to make them all scrub up when this was done. The last thing she wanted was to be the leader of a mucky group of tramps. Her group would be pristine, a proud band of heroes.
Caitlin looked down and smiled as Jaxon followed in step with Kain. It was strange, really. Jaxon had always been a fairly obedient dog—hell, that was the whole point of spending hours training him herself. But she had never seen him so at ease with a complete stranger, something that he certainly hadn’t shown with Mary-Anne.
Before they set off, Jaxon had sniffed and sniffed at Kain, who had simply smiled and let him do it, proclaiming that he had always been a master of animals. They just loved him, or so he said.
But in the several hours they had now been walking, Jaxon hadn’t taken his eyes off Kain once.
What the hell was that about?
Kain caught her eyes. “I told you, pooches just love me.”
“Well, they do spend most of their time sniffing assholes,” Caitlin replied. She looked for Ash and Alice, expecting to find them laughing, but they were deep in their own conversation.
Instead, the laugh came from behind.
Belle was carrying the front of the casket. Her laughter caused the pole to slip from her hand. The other five volunteers responded by re-balancing and countering the drop.
“Oh, for fuck sake,” Mary-Anne grumbled.
No one said anything.
“You don’t need to say anything for me to know who you are. I can smell you, you know. Once darkness hits and I’m out of here, I’m coming for every one of you.”
They all looked at Caitlin with eyes that asked for help.
“Ignore her,” Caitlin said, then raised her voice loud enough for Mary-Anne to hear. “Ma’s just cranky when she hasn’t had a full day’s rest.”
Kain chipped in. “Ain’t that the truth, sweet-fangs?”
“You two are my first targets,” Mary-Anne called back.
Suddenly, Ash ran a few steps ahead. He raised the back of his fist to the rest of the group, and they stopped altogether.
“What is it?” Caitlin whispered, kicking Shitallion to move up to stand next to Ash.
Kain answered, taking a deep breath as his head cocked to the side. “It seems as though we’re here.”
Silver Creek, Silver Creek Forest
Caitlin tied Shitallion to a tree as she instructed everyone to hold back, lie low, and wait for the cue. There was enough foliage and greenery to hide everyone, but that didn’t mean someone wandering past wouldn’t be able to spot the group from a fair way off.
Which is why it worked in their favor that hardly anyone strolled through the forest anymore. It made a sad sign of the times when you couldn’t simply go for a walk out in the fresh air without being chomped on by zombs or hunted by bandits.
Not for the first time, Caitlin wondered what the world had really been like before it all fell to shit. She hoped she’d soon be able to find out when she rebuilt the damn thing.
She took Ash, Kain, and Jaxon with her. Ash because he knew the lay of the land better than Caitlin ever did, and Kain because his hearing and sight seemed to be leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else. He proclaimed he could see a few guards lining the walls of the town. Caitlin couldn’t even see the walls.
But she trusted him for some unknown reason.
Her trust had stood her in good stead so far.
Alice stayed behind, keeping watch over Mary-Anne and the Revolutionaries.
They snuck closer, remaining as far away as possible while always keeping the walls within their sights. The common knowledge of the townspeople was that Silver Creek was a fortress. One way in, one way out. No entry or exit except through the main gate.
“Bullshit,” Ash had said to her the night they made their plans around the campfire. “What kind of governor would trap himself in a fortress without a secret way in or out.”
“There’s a hidden way?” Caitlin had asked.
“That might have been useful to know a little earlier,” Kain said, rolling his eyes.
“Several,” Ash continued as if no one had spoken. “Four at intervals around the walls. They’re guarded, of course. But barely. Only the most trusted of guards are told. Imagine if a stray zombie managed to crawl its way through the holes and into the town. We’d be pretty fucked. So there’s always one person, and that’s all that’s needed.”
Caitlin couldn’t believe it at the time. But skirting along the walls, it all made sense. Of course, Trisk had put in secret passageways. What else could she expect from a slimeball she wouldn’t trust to feed her dog?
An image of the governor trying to squeeze through a gap small enough for an average adult to crawl through flashed into her mind. In her head, he was stuck halfway, his face growing red and his greasy folds bunching against the walls as three guards tried to pull him through. His legs kicked and flailed like mad.
No. Not like Mad. More like fat.
“Just a little further,” Ash said as they ducked low and hid behind some tree trunks. A little further on, Kain spotted something in the wall that was so easy to miss that it wasn’t a surprise it was a secret.
Kain looked up at the parapets, took a big sniff of the air, and nodded to them. “Clear,” he said with a conviction Caitlin couldn’t deny.
But why the fuck did he sniff the air? Could he smell the guards or something?
Caitlin’s intuition started to work as she thought of Mary-Anne and the secret she had uncovered.
So, vampires exist. But what the hell are you?
Dashing out of the cover of trees and into the open, they ran as fast as they could, practically slamming their backs against the wall. Ash found a small nodule in the wood with his hand and pulled, revealing a tiny doorway that creaked open into blackness.
“This is where we part ways,” Ash said extending his hand for Caitlin to shake.
She batted it aside and hugged him tightly. When she pulled away, she said, “Thanks. You know what you’re doing, right?”
Ash nodded, then turned his attention to Kain. “You keep her close. The last thing we need is to—”
He cut off short when a light appeared at the end of the tunnel. Footsteps sprinted quickly towards them.
“So much for the guards hardly paying attention, eh?” Caitlin said.
The man was fast, his sword already out. He advanced quickly, a crazed look in his eye as he swung at Caitlin with death in his eyes. She parried adroitly, pushing him back.
“You’re dead, bitch,” he growled. “The governor wants any intruders to be brought to him—dead or alive.”
“I’ll have to choose death,” Caitlin said, running her blade across the
guard’s throat. The light faded in his eyes, and he fell to the floor. “For you.”
“Impressive,” Kain said, his eyebrows raised.
Jaxon trotted ahead and sniffed the body on the floor. At first, for some reason she couldn’t explain, Caitlin imagined Jaxon licking up the man’s blood. Instead, he cocked a leg and began peeing over the dead body.
“Well…talk about your metaphors for success,” Ash said, closing the door behind them and returning to the Revolutionaries to wait for their cue.
“Metaphors?” Kain asked when the door closed and darkness resumed.
“Y’know, like when you say that something represents something, even if it’s not directly related.”
“I know what a metaphor is, I just don’t get how it applies here,” Kain said, his eyes glinting in the dark.
Caitlin chuckled. Though she had spent the last few days with her needle moving between the hate-him-like-him meter, it was definitely starting to settle more on the like him side more often. There was something about Kain she found intriguing and that reminded her of Mary-Anne—an animalistic something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
“Well, my dear Sudeikis, let’s put it this way.” Caitlin pulled her hood up over her face, stepped over the guard, and began walking. “Much like Jaxon here, we’re about to piss all over the governor’s parade.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Silver Creek, Silver Creek Forest
It was a strange feeling, being back home. Though Silver Creek had been the place where she had spent all her life, it somehow felt different, as though she were stepping into a part of her that didn’t seem to fit right anymore.
With their hoods up, Kain and Caitlin snuck through town, clinging to the quiet suburbs and avoiding the routes where Caitlin knew guards were most likely to walk. That didn’t make it any easier, though. Not by any standard.
Caitlin noted that the captain’s numbers had increased, and there were men clad in the leather armor of the guards nearly every way they went.
The Caitlin Chronicles Boxed Set Page 20