Queen's Gambit

by M. Lorrox

  Charlie is amazed. Floor to ceiling and nearly wall to wall of the plane’s cargo area is filled with a giant vehicle, an Armadillo that is being winched backward into the plane. Behind the one he stares at, another two have already been loaded in. He elbows a soldier next to him. “I think they should have used a bigger plane.”

  The soldier frowns and furrows his brow. “No, that’s the biggest that can use unprepared runways, and none smaller can fit Dillos in them.”

  Charlie looks at him. It was supposed to be a joke… I guess it sucked. Never mind.

  Lieutenant Walker turns to face the squad. “We’re going to be using the side hatches, peel off one by one, go!” He jogs to the right side, the next person jogs to the left, and everyone that follows alternates. Both groups wait to climb into the plane by its lowered front cargo hatches.

  Inside, it’s cramped. The three Dillos fill most of the cargo area and leave only a small space between them and the wall behind the cockpit. Charlie considers making another attempt at a JAWS-inspired joke, but he decides against it.

  The ten humans and three vampires that will ride in the remaining cargo area secure their packs to a sled, two at a time, then slide the sled down toward the back of the aircraft underneath the Dillos. They attach the front of a full sled to an empty one, fill it, then slide it down and attach another empty sled. Rinse and repeat until all their gear is out of the way—stowed underneath the vehicles.

  They secure their weapons vertically—all of them together—near the port-side hatch with nylon webbing and cinch-straps. Then, they fold down jump seats on the forward and starboard walls and settle in.

  When the last Dillo is secured, the loadmaster closes the rear cargo bay door, and the flight crew in the cockpit fire up the engines. Charlie, Tiger, and Aharon all glance at one another, then reach into their breast pockets to take out a set of earplugs. They get them in when the engines really start to make noise. It’s still loud to them, but at least they won’t get a headache.

  The loadmaster jumps in through one of the front hatches, then secures both of them shut. He flips down a jump seat and pulls a radio handset off the wall above it. “Cargo area secured.” He glances to Lieutenant Walker, who gives him a thumbs-up. “Squad secure. We are GO for takeoff. Over.”

  A speaker above their heads gives a response: “Roger, beginning takeoff procedures. Over.”

  The loadmaster, McGee by his name-patch, sits down. “Buckle up, boys and girls, this lady may be big and heavy, but she still dances in the wind!”

  Charlie can’t help but chuckle. He tightens his harness. Tiger is seated next to him on the left side, and Aharon is on the right. Beyond Aharon is the starboard side hatch door. In a row against the forward wall of the cargo area, all the other soldiers sit, facing aft. The weapons are directly across from the vampires, on the port side of the plane.

  Aharon nudges Charlie.

  “You all set?”

  Aharon nods. “I’m sorry, but to quote a much more famous doctor, ‘I may throw up on you.’” He smiles.

  Charlie doesn’t get the reference. He smiles anyway and turns away, toward Tiger.

  Tiger smiles at him. “Hey, Commander?”

  “Try to call me Colonel on this mission... But, what do you want?”

  “Where’s the bathroom on this thing?”

  Charlie turns away without answering, closes his eyes, and sighs.

  Eddy verifies that the velvet pouch and ring is safely stored inside his bag, then he slings it over his shoulder and walks into the living room. “You’re all set, Skip?”

  He’s showing Minnie a brochure of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. “All set. Just waiting for the bus, and then we’ll be off.” He bends down to look at Minnie. “Are you ready to go and see some dinosaur bones?”

  She takes a slow breath. “I was born ready.”

  Skip laughs and shakes his head.

  Eddy walks to the pile of shoes by the door and finds his sneakers. He grabs them, then he looks at June, who is reading a book. “Sure you don’t want to come see the squires?”

  She places her finger on the page to hold her place, then looks up. “No, I’d actually like to keep reading. Tell them I said hi, though.”

  “Alright, see you guys later. Have a good trip, sis!”

  She doesn’t look up from the brochure. “Don’t worry, I will!”

  As Eddy crosses through the lobby, he hears a bellman clear his throat in an obnoxious way. Eddy turns to him and notices that the bellman holds Rusty. “Oh hey, nice and early this time.”

  “I need to speak to your father.”

  Eddy frowns and looks at the man’s nametag. “Rod, I’m sorry, but he’s been deployed. If you’d like to speak to my mom, I can pass the message on to her, or you could talk to me.”

  Rod hands him Rusty. “I’m off during the weekend, so you’ll have to find other arrangements for your doggie. I’ll be back on Monday.”

  “Oh, okay. Not a problem. Thanks for telling me, but is there any chance you can take him up to the room? I’m actually headed to a meeting.”

  “Oh. Sure.” He takes Rusty back.

  “Thanks, Rod.”

  “You’re welcome, Eddy.”

  Rod carries Rusty into the elevator as Eddy checks the instructions Jambavan had texted him.

  From hotel, cross the street, walk a block past the electronics store, cross the next street, turn right, Potomac Cafe on the left.

  Within a few minutes, Eddy arrives. Jambavan and Sky each have a drink and wave him over. He waves back and orders a mocha. Then, he sits down at their table. They’ve chosen a secluded spot in the back, and Eddy sits with his back against a wall, facing into the rest of the cafe.

  Sky sets her drink down and leans over to him. “Do you really think that guy was following you?”

  He nods. “It sure seemed that way, and he didn’t look happy at all when I ditched him.”

  Jambavan points at Eddy and cocks his head. “That was smooth, by the way, nice quick-thinking.”

  Eddy smiles. “Thanks.”

  The barista slides a coffee onto the counter. “Rusty!”

  Eddy pushes his chair back. “That’d be for me.”

  He comes back a moment later with a huge mug of mocha. He sets it down carefully. “This thing’s huge; I could almost take a bath in it… Oh, that reminds me. Any chance there’s a local source of a lot of Vitamin B? A friend needs to take a bath…in that.”

  Jambavan nods. “There are some goat farms a little out to the west that my knight gets supplies from sometimes, but we’d have to drive. There’s a butcher that’s a friendly too, but I’m not sure if he’s open on Fridays. He’s got weird hours. I can check later; just text me.”

  “Thanks, man.” Eddy sips the hot mocha. Mmm, that’s good.

  Sky sets her coffee down. “How’s June? You two do anything last night?”

  “She’s alright. Says ‘hi.’ We just hung out.”

  “Tell her I said hey, back. Eh, never mind, I’ll just text the lass.”

  “Uh, okay. Listen though, I want to tell y’all something interesting that Lorenzo said.” He opens his bag to get the pouch with the ring, but before he takes it out, he glances around the cafe to make sure no one is paying special attention to them. He doesn’t see anything concerning, so he pulls out the ring.

  “So I was being cool and not letting on that I had this, but I asked a bunch of vague questions about the items from the legend. Everything he said reinforced that this ring is the real deal, but he made this one comment that I didn’t really think about much at the time. Since then, though, it got me thinking.”

  Sky motions for Eddy to hurry up. “Out with it already!”

  “Patience, grasshopper.” Eddy smirks and takes a sip of his mocha. Then, he swallows. “Ah. Okay, s
o he said that the items had hidden inscriptions and odd markings on them, but he didn’t seem to know what they said or what they were. It makes me wonder; everybody knows what the symbols on the band mean, the ‘life in the blood—death in the blood,’ script. So how could that be what he was talking about?”

  Sky turns her head. “Huh?”

  “Everybody recognizes the carvings of that motto, well, every vamp anyway. So I’m betting he was talking about different markings.”

  Jambavan picks up the ring. He inspects the outer sides, then the inside of the band where the script is, then the bottom of the flat area—where on the other side, the carving resides. “I don’t see anything but the script.” He hands it to Sky.

  She takes it and inspects it. “Nor can I.” She turns it between her fingers and notices that there’s a thin line carved around the outside, underneath the textured rope that surrounds the symbol. “Do you think this line is carved or—” She presses her fingernail into the line, and the top of the ring shifts. She freezes and looks at Eddy. “Did you see that?”

  He nods. “Yeah. Pry it up.”

  She wedges her nail into the line and circles it around the ring. “It’s a tight fit.” After working her nail around the lip for a few rotations, she finally separates the top from the bottom. She sets both pieces down in a way that allows them to see the newly revealed areas. The three teens lean their heads over the ring to get a good look at it.

  On both faces are tiny carvings, some as small as a pin’s scratch, against an otherwise mirror-polished surface. Sky drops her mouth open as she squints. “How the hell were they even able to make such small carvings?”

  Jambavan squints. “Very carefully.”

  Eddy can’t help but frown. “Guys, hold on. How could this be legit? I mean, it’s supposed to be crazy old. If they could make this, a thousand years ago or whatever, wouldn’t it be all corroded? It looks brand new.”

  Jambavan frowns back. “You don’t know much about gold, do you?”

  “Huh?”

  “It is prized because it is shiny and rare, but for other reasons, too. It is very easy to work with, and in normal environments, it is completely inert; it doesn’t react or corrode with almost anything. This looks like rose gold though, which means there’s copper in it. Copper will oxidize and turn green, but this hasn’t...” He reaches out and slides his finger along one of the revealed faces. “Ah, oil. There’s oil on it, maybe to help lubricate the two pieces when fitting them together, but it likely also kept a seal on the inner faces, preventing oxidation.”

  Eddy’s earlier frown is now a huge smile. So awesome!

  Sky points at Jambavan. “You’re smart.”

  He takes a sip of his drink.

  Eddy rotates the pried-off top piece, so that he can see the symbols in rows. “These remind me of the symbols in the motto, but some look really different. Pictographs maybe?”

  Jambavan sets his mug down. “Early writing often used pictographs.”

  Eddy sighs. “Any chance either of you can read...this?”

  They both shake their heads. Sky leans over the pieces again. “It’s so intricate, whatever the writing says.” She sits back in her seat. I think you’ll need to find an expert.”

  Eddy picks up the pieces of the ring, and carefully guides the them back together. He doesn’t close them all the way though, hoping it’ll be a little easier to open later. “Do you think I can trust that Lorenzo guy?”

  Jambavan shakes his head. “I’d try to find someone else instead.”

  Sky snaps her fingers. “I know! Let’s go to that place where they have rooms and rooms just filled with historical knowledge!”

  Eddy looks at Jambavan; he’s rolling his eyes. He turns back to Sky. “You mean the internet?”

  “Better! And I said rooms and rooms.”

  “The library?”

  “Yup! There’s one just a few blocks from here.”

  Jambavan turns to her. “There is? Oh. Well that’s a good idea then.”

  Eddy shrugs. “What if we try that other thing, called the internet?”

  Sky shakes her head. “There’s so much crap on there that it can be hard to find a good source, but at the library we can search their scholarly journals.”

  Eddy squints his eyes at her. “You’re a closet nerd, aren’t you?”

  She mimics him and squints back. “The bat’leth didn’t give me away?”

  Eddy snorts a laugh. “It probably should have.”

  The two squires finish their drinks, and Eddy gets the rest of his mocha to go. As they’re walking outside toward the library, their route takes them back to the street with their hotel. A large, white charter bus passes by, heading in the other direction. On it are Minnie, Skip, Katlyn, and over thirty other people, all headed to DC.

  Aharon plops back into his jump seat with a sigh. He turns to Charlie. “If anyone ever told me that I’d someday crawl down the belly of a military cargo plane, while it’s flying a mission no less, alongside pallets of gear and underneath giant armored cars, all just to pee in a funnel that releases the waste from altitude—I would have never believed them.”

  Charlie smiles. “I know what you mean. I didn’t imagine I’d be here either, a week ago.”

  Lieutenant Walker and some other soldiers are playing cards. He tosses his hand down, then glances over at the vampires. His frown deepens as he takes a deep breath. He almost has to shout to cut through the engine noise, “How you vamps doing? None of you gonna puke blood all over the place, are ya?”

  Charlie forces a smile and tries to make it genuine. “No way man! I saw that Dracula movie back when it was in the theatres. I loved Gary Oldman in it, but that one scene with the chick grossed me out so bad.” He shakes his head and pretends to chuckle to himself.

  Walker elbows the soldier next to him, Sergeant Lowe. “Hey Lowe, what did you think of that little display last night?”

  Lowe glances at the lieutenant, then over to where the vampires are sitting. He smiles and acts a little awkward. “Pretty impressive if you ask me. I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

  Walker looks at Charlie. “I know, it was pretty unbelievable. Part of me thinks it was just a trick.”

  Charlie watches him and breathes slowly. C’mon man, take it easy.

  Tiger smiles, remembering how Charlie demonstrated their vampire abilities for the soldiers. He SHATTERED a wooden table with his palm! I want to learn how to do that. Maybe he’ll teach me when we get back.

  Walker sneers. “Did you hear me? I said I think you tried to play a trick on us.”

  Charlie cups his hand at his ear. “What? I can’t hear you!”

  The soldiers laugh a little, mostly because they’re nervous.

  “You heard me.” Walker stands and clenches his fists.

  Charlie groans. Oh brother. “Listen, I just want to get this mission over with so I can get home to my wife and kids, you know? I’m not all that different.”

  Corporal Mitchell laughs and -whomp-’s Walker on the arm and points to Aharon. “They take a piss like we do, and have to crawl on their bellies to do it! You boys can’t turn into bats and shit, right?”

  More laughter, some from the vampires. Walker sits down, then stands back up. “Just who do you think you are anyway? I’ve worked hard for this uniform, and you get to just stroll in and get special treatment? Well I say fuck that. I’ve been on The Line, I’ve slaughtered Z, and now I get to play babysitter to you three? Come on...” He continues smoldering as he sits back down.

  Charlie sighs.

  Aharon elbows Charlie. “Sir, will you say something to them?”

  Charlie squints at Aharon. “Fine.” He looks at Walker and the other soldiers. “You forgot one thing Lieutenant, we’re old. You have to babysit a bunch of old farts.” He motions to Tiger and Aharon beside him. “I can�
��t speak for these two, but I’ll tell you a secret. I’ve been out of action for a long time. And I’m very thankful that you all risk your lives every day for this country and its people. I’m honored to be here with you.”

  After Charlie finishes, he just smiles at them.

  Tiger tilts his head toward Charlie. “That it, sir?”

  Charlie tilts his head to Tiger. “Aye.”

  A soldier named Mitchell starts up another round of cards, and they go back to playing. A few minutes later, a tone sounds through the speaker, then a voice.

  “McGee, come in. Over.”

  He stands and picks up the radio. “McGee here. Over.”

  “We’re halfway to Yuma. Approaching time to take the vaccine. Over.”

  “Copy that. Over.” He puts the radio handset back in its holder. “Hear that everyone? Time to take the sleep!” There’s commotion among the soldiers as they all set down what they’re doing and fish a tiny medicine tube from a pocket.

  Charlie leans over to Aharon. “The sleep?”

  He nods. “Something in it makes the person very drowsy.”

  Lieutenant Walker stands back up. “Alright everyone, remember your barf bags, let’s keep it off the floor.”

  Aharon glances at Charlie and shrugs. “Still better than getting infected by the zombie virus though.”

  Charlie nods.

  -BEEEEEP!-

  “Alright everyone, plug yourself and try and get as comfortable as possible.” McGee looks at Charlie and frowns. “It might get a little rough back here, sir.”

  Charlie smiles. “That’s quite alright. Good luck.”

  McGee radios to tell the rest of the flight crew that they’re taking the medicine, then he sits down. He and the other soldiers all inject a thick serum into their arms, and at first, they don’t feel any reaction at all. They laugh, dispose of the needles into a sharps container being passed around, then they start to pick up their cards to keep playing.