Fall Prey: The Hunt

by Dallas Massey

  “All I could do was lie there and watch that monster feed, too broken to do anything but scream. Once he got done with Darrell, he got up and started coming back for me. He started walking toward me slowly, just toying with me. He was nearly on me right when I heard a bunch running footsteps. It was an assault group from the Legion. One of the Legion’s drones of already had the vampire spotted and called them in. Before I knew it, they blew the filthy vamp’s head clean off. His brains and skull fragments splattered all over the place...” Milo finished, trailing off.

  “Whoa, that’s sure some heavy stuff,” said Asher. Sweat had begun to condense on his palms, and the remnants of his meal lay forgotten on his tray.

  “Yes, it was.” A weary smile crossed Milo’s face. “It will haunt me to my grave. I used to have nightmares about it all the time. They only stopped after I began to go on ops for the Legion. Then I got a whole new set of them.”

  “I’ll say.” Asher was certain he would have his own nightmares very soon, finding it strange that he had escaped them thus far.

  “After the attack, I was stuffed into my own ambulance and taken to the hospital to treat my injuries,” Milo explained. “About a month later, when I was nearly healed back up, Lieutenant Tarango and some other guys from the Legion picked me up and recruited me. It didn’t take long for them to convince me to join up. Felt like I owed Darrell at least that much. Hardly left the base since, except to go out on a call.” Milo went silent again, the regret in his voice dying away as he stared down at his now-empty tray.

  Asher sighed, deciding to end his line of questioning. He was sure he wouldn’t be able to convince Milo to say anymore. He turned back to his food. The awkward silence continued for several minutes as he finished his meal.

  “Hey, Ash!” A familiar voice suddenly called out.

  Asher looked up and was surprised to see Aaron Pritchett walking along the side of the table toward him.

  “Oh, hey, Aaron!” Asher exclaimed, surprised. “What’s up? I can’t tell you how surprised I am to see you.”

  “Yeah, they told me you would be down here, so I can’t say I’m surprised to see you,” said Aaron, sitting down across from him. “Just finished up the tour with Lieutenant Tarango and came down here for a late breakfast or lunch or whatever this is.”

  Aaron briefly glanced to the side at Milo, unsure what to make of his less than cheery body language.

  “This is my bunkmate, Milo.” Asher tried to make the situation less awkward. “Milo, this is Aaron Pritchett. We used to work together for the St. Louis Police Department.”

  “Hello, Aaron. It’ll be great to have you.” Milo suddenly became pleasant and alert. He was genuinely pleased to meet Aaron and offered to shake his hand.

  “Yeah, nice to meet you.” Aaron accepted his hand to shake.

  Milo returned to his usual gloomy, dismal state as Aaron released him. He could only manage the illusion of happiness for moments at a time.

  “How did they rope you into all of this?” asked Asher, receiving a blank stare from Aaron. “I didn’t think you would be one to respond to people who recruit by kidnapping you first,” He suddenly stopped. “Wait, they did kidnap you didn’t they?”

  “It’s kind of interesting that you would ask me that, Ash.” Aaron frowned, his demeanor changing from carefree to severe.

  Asher stared at him blankly for a moment before he realized what was affecting his mood.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you had been kidnapped by vampire hunters when you came to see me in the hospital?” Aaron’s voice suggested he might snap. “If you would have said something then, you could have saved me a lot of trouble. At least then I would have been prepared for it when they came to grab me.”

  “Aaron, all I can say is that I’m sorry.” Asher gave him the most sincere look he could manage. “I had no idea that they were so extreme in their recruitment. I thought maybe mine was just a special case because I got lucky and killed that vamp.”

  “Well, you were wrong.” Aaron was still steaming. “Sounds like nearly every recruitment kind of happens like that, or at least that's what it looks like.”

  “How exactly did they grab you?” Asher tried to break the tension.

  “They jumped me on the way back home from the hospital last night. Got me just after I got out of the car, before I had a chance to walk through the doors to my apartment building. There was this big, white utility van that pulled up right behind me. I barely had time to close my car door before four guys in body armor jumped out and grabbed me. Shoved a black bag over my head and threw me in the van. Next thing I know, I’m down in the garage tied up, talking to Commander Greaves.”

  “What all did they do to convince you?” Asher was curious as to how Aaron had submitted to recruitment faster than he had.

  “Well, at the start, I didn’t want to believe vampires were real in any way at all.” Aaron had a kind of cynical squint in his eyes. “I’ve never really cared for any of that supernatural stuff, and I like to think it took a lot of convincing. Greaves asked me a bunch of questions about what I saw, and I just told him about everything it might have been other than a vampire.”

  “Yeah, I was about the same way.” Asher nodded in solemn agreement. ”There’s just so many other things it could be attributed to with all our technology these days.”

  “Greaves kind of changed his tone after he started trying to reason with me.”

  Aaron took a bite of eggs, grimacing as if he might spit them out.

  “He started asking me a bunch of questions about how that vampire moved, asked me if I had any other explanation as to how a human could throw me against a wall and crack my skull. When I couldn’t come up with a good enough answer, he brought out a sack with the vampire’s head in it. Nasty as heck. Just cut it off and left it in there to rot. As gross as that was, I still wasn’t convinced. I told them there was probably something you could do to make a pig’s head look like that.”

  “Yeah, that’s pretty much what I told them.” Asher smiled, seeing Aaron was in a better mood.

  “After that, they tried the whole guilt angle.” Aaron chewed a bit of bacon. “Talked about how I needed to think about Hernandez and Nelson. They told me it was my duty to avenge their deaths or whatever. Said they would have wanted me to help rid the world of this vampire menace. That didn’t work. It just made me mad that they would put words in dead guys’ mouths, especially ones I cared about.”

  “If they did all that, then how did they convince you to join?” Asher crossed his arms under his chest. “Doesn’t seem like there would have been anything else for them to do.”

  “When I still wasn’t buying it, Greaves pulled out a voice recorder of you calling them and saying you wanted to join the Legion.” Aaron shrugged. “They told me all about how you killed that thing. About how it was nearly impossible with a 9mm unless you hit ‘em in the eyes. I always thought you were no dummy, somebody who could kind of see through people to tell what was real and what wasn’t. I never thought of you as someone who would do anything stupid, and I was sure if you were willing to do it, then I might as well too. I was kind of finding being a cop to be a little stale anyway, so I thought, well, what the heck.”

  “Thanks for that endorsement, Aaron, I guess.” Asher was almost sarcastic, though he was admittedly happy about the prospect of working with someone he knew from before.

  “Yeah, we have kind of gotten a little aggressive in our recruitment,” Milo chimed in, suddenly becoming part of the conversation, awoken from his daydream. “It didn’t use to involve kidnapping, but I guess we’re just that desperate now. They didn’t use to have anyone above a lieutenant do it either. Must think Greaves is more effective than anyone else, I suppose.”

  “Yeah, I think they might want to reconsider.” Aaron finished his hash brown. “Greaves is a little too aggressive. About kept me from enlisting for sure.”

  “Well, looks like I’m finished,” said Milo, absent-mindedly
scraping his fork across his tray, making a grating sound. “I’ve kind of been lounging around our room all day, and I think it might be time to head out to the range. See you guys later.” With that, Milo rose from his seat to return his tray.

  “Well, guess I’m off to the range too,” said Asher, looking down to find his tray empty, barely remembering he had eaten at all. “Sounds like all they have privates do is arms training until they hook us up with some kind of vampire education course or whatever. They really want us to have some crazy good accuracy.” He swung his legs over the other side of his seat, rising to his feet.

  “I’ll be joining you as soon as I’m done here,” said Aaron, taking another bite. “Can’t wait to try out one of those X-12’s that Greaves likes to harp on so much. I hope the kickback is like he says it is, though. I don’t want to get beat up by one of those things.”

  “Kickback is not bad. I was surprised.” Asher turned to leave. “Well, alrighty, I’m off. See you down there, man.”

  * * *

  “Cease fire! Cease fire! Captain on deck!” Asher heard a shrill voice cry out into his headset.

  The range was typically mind-numbingly loud from near-ceaseless gunfire. It went silent in an instant as the soldiers put down their weapons and removed their ear protection.

  Asher flipped on his weapon’s safety and placed his headset down on the shooting booth table, turning to see Captain Kilgore walking along the glass wall behind the shooting lanes. Another young soldier followed closely behind. Asher and Aaron saluted the captain when he approached. Kilgore returned the gesture when he stopped in front of them.

  “I have the new assault group assignments, so listen up!” The captain proclaimed, taking a moment to look for Milo and frowning when he found him several lanes down. “Harkman, get over here so you can hear it!” he commanded, stomping his foot impatiently.

  “OK,” Kilgore continued, looking down at the clipboard as Milo hurried to stand beside Aaron. “I have you guys, that’s Harkman, Blackthorn, and Pritchett down for the same assault group.”

  “But, sir,” asked Asher, confused by the announcement. “Aren’t there supposed to be four people in an assault group? I mean, I can’t imagine you would send us into anything with less than four.”

  “I was getting to that Blackthorn.” Kilgore gave him a sullen look. “There are four men in an assault group in the Legion, bringing me to the point I was trying to make.”

  The captain turned to the young man standing beside him. The soldier’s features were difficult to discern through his helmet.

  “This is Corporal Draven Driscoll, and he will be your group leader. We had him transferred over from another company. He needs a group. You need a group leader. It’s perfect. We’re going to have another bunk moved into Blackthorn and Harkman’s quarters. That way we can keep you all together. It’s imperative to make sure you’re together. It helps to foster cooperation. Or teamwork. Or something…” He looked up at Asher, then at Aaron and Milo, frowning when he saw none of them shared his enthusiasm. “Aren’t you going to shake hands?”

  He stepped aside so Corporal Driscoll could introduce himself to the group.

  “It might help if you would remove your helmet, Corporal.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Driscoll, pulling the helmet from his head, revealing a doughy, pasty-skinned visage. Both his hair and eyes were a dull brown.

  “Hey, Corporal.” Asher went in to shake Driscoll’s hand. “I’m Asher Blackthorn, and this is Aaron Pritchett and Milo Harkman, our medic.” He gritted his teeth on the last syllable, unprepared for Driscoll’s deliberate, bone-breaking handshake. It was as though the corporal intended to crush his hand.

  Driscoll finally let go of him, moving on to greet Aaron and Milo.

  “Well, I suppose since you’re now part of this assault group, corporal,” said the captain, having failed to see Asher grimace when Driscoll took his hand. “I’ll leave you to it then.”

  “Yes, sir!” Draven saluted Kilgore and then stepped away from the group to retrieve his weapon.

  “Just try not to give each other a hard time,” said Kilgore, as soon as the corporal was out of earshot. “Not sure Driscoll is going to be the easiest man to follow, but you’re just going to have to make it work.”

  “Yes, sir!” Asher saluted. Aaron and Milo did likewise.

  “Well, that’s all I got for this group.” Kilgore turned to leave. “Got to be moving along. Several other assault groups to assign. They’ll give you the all-clear as soon as I finish. I got your assault group assignment right here!” He walked away from them, continuing along the glass wall, barking out orders.

  “Dang it! Evans, take off your headset so you can hear me!” the captain yelled as he moved down the line.

  Corporal Driscoll reappeared just as Kilgore walked away, taking the empty booth at Asher’s left. He had a protective headset in hand, his shotgun slung across his back.

  “Sir,” said Aaron. He stepped around Asher to where Driscoll stood, determined to improve the corporal’s first impression of his new assault group. “Congratulations on your promotion, sir. You must have had to work hard to get it.”

  “Thank you, Private.” Driscoll displayed a genuine smile this time. “I can’t say I had to work very hard to advance to corporal. Not sure exactly what I did to get it. I just woke up one day, and they gave me another stripe. Some of my former group leaders liked to say I could clear a room better than anyone. I like to think maybe that had something to do with it.”

  Probably just looking for any excuse to get rid of you, Asher thought to himself. He leaned against the wall separating his shooting booth from Driscoll’s, knowing he should attempt to find an entrance into the conversation.

  “Promotion is still a pretty big deal, sir, no matter how you get it,” said Aaron. “Just out of curiosity, though, does the Legion ever use any tactics that don’t involve room clearance? Don’t you ever do anything that doesn’t call for boots on the ground?”

  “Wow, you guys are new.” Driscoll’s smirk reappeared. “Aren’t they teaching anything in those classes anymore? They were pretty in-depth when I took them, but maybe the instructors have gotten kind of lax.”

  “Blackthorn and Pritchett are very new, sir,” said Milo from where he stood beside Asher, a bespectacled elf next to a giant. “Blackthorn arrived last night, and Pritchett only just this morning.”

  “OK, I’ll just give you some information in advance, Pritchett,” said Driscoll. “Yes, we do employ other tactics where we can. Sometimes, if we believe the vamps haven’t taken anyone or if we’ve just found a coven, or nest, of them, we’ll just send out a drone and level the place. The Legion doesn’t do that itself, of course. We usually have Homeland Security fly one out and take down the target under false pretenses or whatever. That’s how we would like it to go down every time if we had the choice. Unfortunately, that method just isn’t practical most of the time. Vamps prefer heavily populated areas, places that are kind of hard to bomb, creating delicate situations. The Legion routinely lays down explosive charges on their own to destroy vampire crime scenes, but never as the primary means to deal with vampiric perps. Since the vamps like to attack civilians and usually never gather in numbers large enough to warrant the use of explosives in a fight, our only choice is to use projectile weapons. That’s why we rely on room clearance so much.”

  “I can understand the need to avoid explosives, sir,” said Aaron, finding Asher and Milo with similar confused looks on their faces. “What I mean is, do you ever use any projectiles or other non-explosives more powerful than a shotgun? Maybe even something futuristic, like, I don’t know, robots with guns too heavy for a man to carry?”

  “Ha! Robots!” Driscoll nearly laughed. “The government gives us plenty of funding, but never enough for anything like that. Besides, as far as I know, there aren’t any robots quick enough to bring down a vamp.”

  “So is anyone even trying to develop any new anti-vampi
re tech at all, sir?” asked Asher, his interest stimulated. He decided he would try to save Aaron from any further underhanded rebuke. “It seems like it would be a major concern by now, you know, since the vampires are such a big problem.”

  “As far as I know, there still hasn’t been much of that going on at the moment,” said Driscoll, pausing to think about it. “I’m not an authority on anything like that. Someone could be working on something, I suppose. A lot of the top brass like to make it sound like they have become a major problem, but I don’t think their numbers are that high just yet.” Driscoll grew quiet, looking past the three gathered around him.

  “Here comes the captain,” said Aaron, indicating to the others to turn around. All four of them saluted Kilgore as he passed.

  “Better get back to your booths,” said Driscoll, never afraid to state the obvious. “They’ll give an all-clear here in a moment.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Asher. Aaron and Milo joined in, none of them enthusiastic.

  Asher moved from where he stood against the dividing wall and stepped into his booth while the others passed behind him to do likewise. He shoved his headset back on his head with his shotgun at his side as he waited for the all-clear.

  “All clear!” shrieked the voice into his headset seconds later. “You are free to resume usual range activities!”

  Asher assumed his shooting stance on reflex, a deadeye aim on his paper target’s head as he pulled the trigger.

  Chapter XII

  Up from the Depths

  “Lights out at 10:30,” said Driscoll, letting the door to Room 17 close behind him.

  His entrance caused Asher to look up from where he sat watching TV with Aaron.

  “Don’t worry. It will only be 10:30 until they put us back on the usual rotation.”