They did not look at him. He did not look at them.
They entered behind him and pushed the button that led to the thirteenth floor and isolation.
Tom watched the muzzles of their guns the whole way.
The door to the isolation chamber sealed shut with a small hiss for such a heavy door. The air filters kicked in with a low whir.
There was absolutely nothing Tom could do for twenty-four hours. He tried to hold his urine in for the first few hours but then he couldn’t hold it anymore so he had to wet his trousers. His hip and his knee ached and burned. He didn’t think it would have been so bloody painful after just a short run, but there it was: he was old.
He rolled on the floor and tried to wriggle over against the wall so that he could sit up straight. Sometimes it eased the pain if he could get into sitting position, but every time he managed to get up against the wall he slid down again, the fine mesh slipping against the smooth floor and steel wall.
With a sigh he gave up and submitted to the indignity of being treated like one of the cured. Nothing more than an animal to be culled from the face of the earth. In another room, bound and subdued, the vampire they had captured would be suffering much worse.
He knew the tests they would be running on the beast. They would be taking its blood for observation. Hair and skin cells would be studied. Brain matter and bone samples would be taken and pored over with perhaps the finest instruments remaining on the planet. The facilities at their disposal were all state of the art twenty years ago.
What heights might man have reached in twenty years without the plague?
Now mankind were reverting. Science would soon be forgotten. Tom often wondered how many years it would take for people to forget there was ever electricity, television, email and mobile phones. Would they eventually resort to using spears to hunt the vampires?
Vampires had no need of tools. Without mankind to pick them up, the trappings of civilization would eventually lie disused and forgotten, turning to dust over hundreds, thousands, of years. Seven billion people on the planet before the fall, and just how many of them were there left to pick up? Were there millions, hiding away in enclaves such as this?
Tom’s mouth was dry and his head ached from dehydration. He rolled around for a while for something to do. He turned to face the window and saw Marie watching him with her cold face.
He wanted to smile, but that would just make it harder. If it had been Samson he would have kept him and experimented on him the same way as the cured in the other room…dissection, burning, sawing.
Marie was cold, but she was human. She saw the necessity for the experiments, but she hated it as much as Tom.
Instead of smiling he turned away. He wasn’t ashamed or afraid, but he wished he didn’t have a wet patch at the front of his trousers. He never imagined that he might be trying to hide the fact that he’d wet himself from a woman at his age. Public school education, two homes, a wife who had left him long before the fall and a beautiful daughter.
Now he was wetting himself like a child and hoping a pretty woman wouldn’t notice the stain when she shot him in the head.
He concentrated on the feel of the cool steel under his cheek. He imagined the pain the vampire would be suffering. The experiments were pointless. There was nothing they could do. They were all just marking time until they were cured, or they died. Either way, their problems would be over soon enough. Mankind’s time had passed.
Tom rolled, shuffled. He tried to sleep, just to pass the time.
His knee and hip began to moan at him, then complain, then scream. His ribs ached, where the vampire had punched him. His lips cracked. It was five hours before he had to urinate again. He didn’t mind so much the second time.
Outside, day ended and night fell.
*
Chapter Ten
Level 13
Marie watched Tom through the reinforced window. If he turned, it would hold him. The room had been tested before. Jean had been watching then, when the newly made vampire broke free of its bonds and thudded against the window, cracking its head against the glass over and over. Jean had panicked and opened fire. The window had a few scratches on it but it had not shattered. They knew the glass was tough enough.
Marie wasn’t worried about the glass breaking, or Tom tearing through the door with his bare hands. The strength did not come until later. Much later.
She had known Tom for nearly five years. She had been a teenager when a group of scavengers from the compound had found her grubbing out an existence over ground. Always small, she’d been little more than skin and bone. She was one of the few children born after the fall to survive. Her mother had kept her alive, somehow managing to survive a pregnancy in a world where even the smallest infection could kill. Her mother had been tougher than any of the cured. That was the thought Marie held onto when she went out into the wastes…that her mother had survived with a child to protect.
When her mother had been killed Marie had become like an animal herself. It was Tom who had brought her out of her self-imposed isolation. When she had refused to speak to anyone he had persisted. He brought her food and kind words. He was the first person she spoke to. He was only person to make her laugh since her mother had died.
In some ways she was like the cured. For her, it was about the hunt. She lived to destroy them.
She only hoped that when she was too old to fight she would be as brave as Tom.
He had warned them that the vampires would begin to work together. They might be vampires but they still had all the thoughts of a human, if none of the emotion.
They were driven by their hunger, but when the food became scarce, would their hunger not drive them to find a better way of hunting? Would it not force them to fight together? Even wild beasts knew the value of a pack.
It had been man’s only advantage. Man could work together.
Were they to lose that advantage?
Marie thought it might happen.
She steeled her heart as she watched Tom. Soon she would have to kill him, or release him from his bonds. Would he understand that she wanted to be the one to do it? Would he forgive her?
When he looked at her she did not smile. But she did not embarrass him by looking away, either. He looked away first. She wished he could have read her face and understood that it had to be this way.
If he turned they would use him, like they used the animal in the medical bay.
She would not see it come to that.
Her wait was cut short. A klaxon sounded.
Even Tom heard it, through the thick steel. It hurt Marie’s ears. It must have been agony for the vampire in the cell down the hall.
Tom looked at her through the window, his look one of sadness and understanding.
She nodded to him. She mouthed, ‘I’ll be back.’
The others would be taking up positions and arming the defences. But there was something about this night. She had learned long ago to trust her feelings. It was the predator in her. Animal instincts honed through long years of survival, gradually turning from hunted to hunter.
She had seen the way the two vampires had worked together, even if Samson and Lucius remained blind to what was happening.
The vampires were evolving. If they were evolving, time was suddenly short. And if time was short, they would need Tom. He was their best chance.
She picked up her rifle.
She could understand Tom all too well. When Tom had lost his daughter, Marie imagined how her mother would have felt had she died first.
What would it be like, to protect someone for so long, only to lose them?
She hoped she would have the chance to save Tom, as he had saved her.
The klaxon changed tone. Insistent. Not a warning. An emergency.
Marie broke into a run.
*
Chapter Eleven
Fallon Corp. Research Facility
Perimeter
Samson was staring at a scr
een when Marie arrived.
‘What’s happening, Sam?’
‘Some shit,’ he answered.
Jean Peroux, tapping commands into the central hub, waved her over.
‘There,’ he said. On screen one of the three remaining turrets came out of the ground. Marie watched it swivel, once, twice, as Jean ran a diagnostic on it.
The camera shot on screen rolled back.
‘Incoming?’ she said.
‘Yeah. It’s something, alright.’
‘Would someone shut that fucking thing off?’
Jean checked the status of all three turrets before he deactivated the alarm.
The ringing in Marie’s ears persisted.
Alain March and his wife Suzanne came into the hub at a run. Their faces were stony but Marie thought she detected a hint of fear, too.
Jean turned and smiled tightly at them. ‘Good. All here,’ he said.
‘At last, we can hear ourselves speak. Thirteen minutes ago, twenty-five since nightfall, we picked up three beats on the proximity monitor. We have analysed them and they’re human. I’m bringing up the heat sensors now.’
Marie turned her eyes to the wall monitor. There was a moment when the screens were blank. Dead before anything had begun, she thought, but then she saw them. Three survivors.
‘God damn,’ she said.
‘God damn is right,’ said Samson. He had a joint behind his ear. It was his little way of celebrating a kill. He’d save it until this was over. Marie wondered if he’d get to light it tonight. She kind of hope he did, kind of hoped not. The night felt wrong.
‘Pan in with the infrared, Jean. I want to see their heat signatures.’ Their faces loomed closer. They were just standing there, looking around. Why didn’t they run? They were sitting ducks.
‘This is fucked,’ said Samson.
Marie could only nod.
They all knew it as well as she did. The scenario was wrong.
Jean voiced the thought.
‘They should be running. Or hiding. They’re just standing there.’
‘Everyone watch your stations. I’m going to do a perimeter sweep. Stay alert.’
Marie kept her eyes on her monitors. They covered 360°, the complete view around entrance four. There was a dead spot behind a partly destroyed warehouse complex, but the scanners covered that with heat resonance imaging. The only way a vampire could get past the monitors was to approach covered in tin foil from head to foot, moving at a pace of less than a foot per second. The system was extremely sensitive. Marie still felt uneasy. Was there something that the designers of the complex had overlooked, some design fault?
Visibility wasn’t the issue. The city was a largely a barren wasteland. The raging fires that had followed the bombings wiped much of the remaining outskirts of the city bare. There were few places for vampires to hide.
It was difficult to concentrate on the screens while her mind was racing through all the possibilities. She just hoped she wasn’t missing something.
‘Nothing,’ said Jean. ‘Anyone getting anything?’
Each replied nothing. Not one of their voices was sure, though. It wasn’t just nerves. The survivors were developing different senses. They could feel something wrong.
Everyone had faced vampires in the flesh. After a while, working topside among the ruins, running scavenger hunts and taking samples, you could feel eyes on you. Even during the day, when it was safest, they could feel the prickling, the hairs rising on the back of their necks. Even Jean, who hadn’t seen a vampire since he had lost his left leg below the knee, could sense it.
Marie was the first to voice their fears.
‘It’s a trap.’
‘They could just be afraid,’ said Suzanne.
‘If they were afraid, they would run. Look. Look at the height of the one in the middle. It’s a girl. She’s been born into this world. She knows to run. She knows to hide. It’s wrong. I say we keep the doors closed. I don’t think we should risk sending a team topside to get them.’
Alain shook his head. ‘We can’t just leave them there. If a vampire hasn’t smelled them yet it won’t be long. We haven’t got time to argue. Jean, order a team topside. If we leave them there it would be the same as murder. I’d rather we shoot them dead now than leave it to that.’
‘That’s got my vote,’ said Samson. ‘Shoot them dead now. Why risk our necks?’
‘Sam! Do not be an arsehole.’
‘Fuck you, Suzanne. You know it makes sense. This is wrong. They could be infected.’
‘Bullshit. They’re not infected. They’re human. The heat signature is wrong for the infected and you know it. You can see just as well as the rest of us.’
‘What if they’re grunts? Newly infected? We wouldn’t know.’
Suzanne spun to face Sam. ‘Then we isolate them, same as we always do!’
‘Alright,’ said Jean. ‘Everyone keep calm.’
‘Jean. It’s a trap,’ said Marie. ‘Think about it.’
‘What are you thinking, Marie?’
‘Vampires could be watching. They don’t know where the entrances are. They could be watching and waiting for us to show them.’
‘Well, where are they?’
‘They could be anywhere. The scanners can only cover so much ground. If they were out of range…’
‘And how would they know what the range is? No, I don’t think so.’
‘Jean,’ Marie said softly. Shouting would do no good. ‘Listen to me. Tom thinks they are evolving. Becoming smarter.’
‘Tom’s losing his mind, Marie. I know you care for him, but don’t let him drag you down, too. He’s already got people talking and it won’t help. We need hard facts. We can’t risk lives on his hunches.’
‘I’m not talking about risking anyone’s life. I’m talking about protecting them. If we take these people in at night the vampires will know. They are working together, Jean. That’s a fact.’
‘It’s true,’ said Samson, reluctantly. ‘We saw it today. Much as it pains me to say it, the old fool is right. I wouldn’t put it past them to set a trap. They know they can’t get to us down here, but that doesn’t mean they don’t know we’re here.’
‘We can’t leave them out there,’ said Jean, but he didn’t sound certain.
‘We can, Jean,’ said Marie carefully. ‘We have to. We never open a gate at night. We know better. The risks aren’t worth it. We can protect the people from here. If they just stay where they are, we can cover them. But we can’t open the gate in the dark. It’s just too risky. I don’t trust this at all.’
Jean rubbed a rough hand over his eyes. ‘We could be killing them.’
Samson shrugged. ‘You want facts? Hard facts? Three people out there, people we can protect, maybe. Over two hundred in here. If we open that gate and we’re not fast enough, we could be letting in a whole heap of trouble. Kill them, leave them there, I don’t care. But don’t let them in. Marie’s right. It stinks. They’re bait.’
Alain sighed heavily, but he nodded. ‘I hate it, but I agree. I think they’re bait.’
Suzanne shook her head. ‘Alain…’
‘Sorry, Suze, but I don’t think we should risk it.’
Suzanne kept her face calm, but she was trembling. ‘I do not care what you all say. We cannot leave them there. It is murder. Murder. Simple.’
Jean held up a hand. ‘I’ve heard enough. Keep your eyes on the monitors. We’re going to do what we can from here. We’re not going to open the gates. We’ll shoot anything that moves. On sight, if it’s a vampire or a cannibal, even if it’s a god damn deer, shoot it. We have one priority tonight, and that’s to keep those people alive.’
Jean picked up the intercom.
‘Tell Kappa his team’s on standby.’
Marie put everything else aside in her mind. Tom was forgotten.
She puffed out her breath and stretched her back straight again. She’d been hunched but the tension left her.
Jean
, as always, took the hub. He would run the operation, until the sun rose.
Alain took northern turret, Suzanne watching over his shoulder.
Sam took eastern turret, Marie controlled the west.
Sam and Marie had the most ground to cover as south had been unprotected since the fourth turret had malfunctioned.
Marie wasn’t worried. She was hunting. Sam had her back.
This, she could do.
*
Chapter Twelve
Perimeter
Fallon Corp.
The little girl stood where she’d been told to stand. Her name was Nicole. She didn’t move. Her father held her hand. His hand shook but hers was steady. She’d been born into this world and understood much that he did not. He was fifty-five. She was twelve.
She had grown up in a small village many miles from Paris, hiding during the night and hunting during the day. She was too young to hunt vampires. She hunted small rodents. She was quick and could get places the adults could not.
Nicole spoke French and English well. Her mother had taught her during the long nights, in whispered conversations while Gerard and Mikael and her father had guarded over them. It was the only life she had known, until men from the hills came and told them they could protect them. That had been when she was ten. The men from the hills had all died when she was eleven. Gerard and Mikael, too. Now she was here. Her birthday had passed forgotten, but she didn’t mind. Her father had other things to worry about.
Like how they were going to remain alive until day break.
She looked around but she could not see anything. She could not see them. She knew they were there. She could feel them.
They were different to the others. There were many of them, but they weren’t like the new vampires, or the old ones. None of those were as old as her father, but they were old enough to be smart.
They had destroyed the men from the hills with ease. The men from the hills had died because they had underestimated the vampires. It was a word she had learned from her mother. She had often told her she must not underestimate vampires, or people, to survive in this world.
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