by Maxey, Phil
She knew Copeland’s claws had long been deep into the military, and when the command structure fell apart the Corporation was ready to step in, for ‘the good of the country’. To her, it sounded unconstitutional, but if the five stars said it needed to happen then she wasn’t about to argue, not when the whole world was turning upside down.
By the time she learned those same generals had gone off reservation, it was too late, and she was officially a mercenary. Not that it made any difference. The scourge took everyone, it didn’t make any difference if you were a soldier or a housewife from Missouri.
She finished her coffee, picked up her M4, and walked outside into the light rain. Even with a blanket of gray above, the scene around was still breathtaking. The mountains dissolved into rolling green hills which ended in the blue shimmering water.
She took the binoculars from her second-in-command, Reid Carlson, and marched with him up the muddy track to a loftier vantage point. She stood and looked through the double eyepieces. The small town, which sat on a finger of land jutting out into the lake, was a hive of activity. Carlson was right. She also knew what it meant.
“They know we’re coming,” she said to him.
“How the hell can they know? We’re at least six miles away still and we landed the birds in the valley.”
She moved her enlarged view across the homes, to the people that were busy moving vehicles in the street and the construction work which was happening outside the walls. “The boy.”
“Even if he survived, the boy don’t talk.”
“Yeah, well, presuming he did, he must have told them something because there’s no other way they would have known.”
“And why would he do that? Why help them?”
Corvin told Carla the truth about the boy some weeks back. It made her sick to her stomach, but she wasn’t about to tell anyone else. She handed the binoculars back to Carlson and began to walk back to her tent. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing can save them now.”
*****
Evan pulled and pushed on the oars of the small boat. On his back were four gallons of water in plastic containers, contained in his backpack. He hardly noticed it was there.
Shannon quietly sat opposite, observing the water and hills around. The cover story was they were just going to hang out as young people do. One of Lucian’s men made some joke and wished them well.
Shannon’s eyes whipped towards Evan and away again. He knew she was anxious about being in the boat with him, just by her increased heart rate which he could hear, but her expression made it obvious anyway.
From the moment they were out of audible range from Haven’s shore, he wanted to talk to the young woman next to him, but every time he went to speak, his fear jumped in front of his words, preventing them from emerging.
By the time they reached the halfway point to the sliver of land they drove to the day before, he had all but given up on a conversation. Maybe it was better that way, he thought. He wasn’t sure what he would say to her anyway.
Within the first few days of his change, he had had the strange notion that perhaps being a vampire would give him better chances with girls. That’s how it worked in the movies, so why not real life?
But much to his annoyance, his social anxiety was as strong as ever, despite the fact that he could now run a hundred yards in five seconds, or hear what people were saying, even if those people were behind a few inches of brick and stone.
“What if we can’t stop them?”
Shannon’s words were like a slap in his face. Waking him from the prison of his own thoughts.
He pulled extra hard on the oars. “Unless they show up with a platoon of hybrids, I think we can take them. They had thirty or so soldiers, and we won, so I ain’t bothered.”
She frowned, looking at him directly. “You almost all died. Lucian’s people saved your asses!”
“The point is, they will take losses—” He shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe they don’t want to do that.”
She looked at the approaching shore. “Or maybe they don’t care…” she said under her breath.
Evan heard her clearly. He stopped rowing and let the boat go with the current. “We survived this far. We won’t let some crazy Silicon Valley billionaire kill us.”
The small boat bumped up against the rocky shore. They both jumped out and Evan tied it to a metal peg, then they quickly made their way up the dirt track which dissected a small farmers field, and onto the gravelly path which sat next to the farm buildings.
The scene seemed creepily quiet to Shannon, but Evan could hear his grandfather in the largest of the buildings, and jogged across the road and into the short grass of the field.
She watched him disappear around the corner of the building and followed. When she got to the gate, she stopped and looked at the hills that were overlooking the lake. Shaking her head she walked inside, closing the gate behind her.
“Five gallons of water. That enough?” said Evan to Bill, who was surrounded by paper with sketches and numbers on them.
“Going to have to be. Thank you. I presume they didn’t see you take it?”
A rush of wind followed a blur and the barn door clattering. Evan stood with a smile and a long-stemmed flower in his hand.
“Yes, you’re very fast. I get it,” said Bill.
Evan looked at Shannon. He immediately realized the meaning of him holding a flower and started to go red. Shannon frowned and looked away, her expression changing to one of a smile. He placed the flower down on the long wooden bench.
Evan walked to the other end of the bench and looked down at the tablet, which looked just as pristine and clean as it always did. “Learn anything new?”
Bill sighed. “There’s not even a hint of something like this in historical literature. Not even on the conspiracy boards. Copeland was either the first to discover it, or people went to a lot of trouble to keep it secret.”
Evan picked the tablet up, studying the markings closely. “What about the symbols?”
Shannon’s eyes widened, which Evan sensed. He looked at her and smiled. “Only Joel has the weird—” he rolled his finger around the outside of his temple. “—Vision thing when he touches it.”
“Yes, obviously whatever is different with Joel is not fully passed on with his blood.”
Shannon sat up straighter as if just realizing something. “Lucian is like Joel. Could he use that thing too?”
“That’s something we don’t want to find out,” said Bill.
Evan put the tablet down.
“We better be getting back,” said Evan. “It’s around three p.m., probably a good idea you come back with us,” he said to his grandfather.
Bill shook his head. “I think I’m going to stay here overnight. You can come back for me in the morning. I doubt any of the Haven people know I’m not there, or care.”
“Lucian might if he finds out.”
“It’ll be fine, Evan. If I need any more food, I’ll walk up the road to that house. We didn’t take all of the food when we went there last time.”
Evan hesitated. He hated leaving him alone, especially overnight. “I don’t know…”
Bill looked at him directly. “If Copeland’s people do show up, I’ll be safer here anyway.”
It was a sound argument and Evan nodded. “Okay, I’ll be here just after sun up.” He went to walk off, then realized that Shannon was rooted to her seat.
“Think I’m going to stay as well.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Joel looked out into the dark from the roof of Haven High School. It was the highest point on the flat land which the town resided on and gave him as good a view as any of the surrounding hills and mountains beyond. Despite the lake being in-between, he couldn’t help but feel that any danger would come from that direction. Not the flat farmland to their east, that was a bit too obvious.
With the help of mechanical diggers, they had managed to create a ten-foot-deep trench around the outside of t
he wooden posts which made up the exterior fortifications. And had shored up the walls with a number of vehicles and when they ran out of them, lintels and anything else strong enough.
It would make any storming of the town a tough undertaking, even with hardened soldiers if there were bullets flying at them.
Of course, like any battle, it came down to numbers, and if Copeland really wanted in, there wasn’t going to be much the townspeople could do to stop him.
Marina appeared from the stairwell and walked up to him.
“How’s Jess and Jasper?” he said.
“Jess’s acting like his big sister, even though I’m sure they’re about the same age.”
Joel smiled.
“Evan’s with them and those townspeople that have decided to stay down there. The others though have decided not to leave their homes.”
“Can’t blame them.”
“They don’t know what they’re going to be up against.”
Joel glanced at her. “Neither do we. We just know it’s coming.”
Marina walked closer to the wall, and the thirty foot drop beyond. She looked out across the lake. It was darker than usual because of the moon being hidden beyond the blanket of cloud. “They’re not going to make it easy for us this time.”
“Nope.”
“I hate to say this, but…”
Joel looked at her.
“A part of me wants them to attack. I… I need to feed.”
“You’re not getting blood from the hospital?”
“Some, but I don’t want to use their supplies. Anyway, it’s not the same.”
Joel looked closely at her. He sighed, then looked back to the lake. “You need to keep a lid on those urges.”
Yeah, like I did, he thought, sarcastically.
“I’m just saying, it’s a two birds one stone kinda thing.”
Joel nodded.
“You think they’ll come from the water?”
“That’s where I would attack from. It’s the least guarded. Lucian has maybe six guys down there with rifles walking the shore. A small group could slip onto the beach, get into town, and then get to the gates to open them for a bigger—”
The repeated thud of boots running up steps made him turn around to face Evan as he emerged from the door.
“Jasper’s freaking out. He keeps saying, he’s here?”
Joel whipped around to face the lake once more. Even from half a mile distance he could see the placid waves calmly coming to the shore, and no sign of anything else. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Marina step forward closer to the wall. She was looking up at the sky over the lake.
“What is that? Is that a plane?”
Joel immediately saw what she could. A cross-shape shadow moving towards them, just visible against the lighter clouds. Something about how it moved reminded him of the animated scene he saw when he touched the tablet. As he slowly stepped backwards, a number of ideas fell into place in his mind, like pins in a lock to a door he did not want open.
Copeland’s a vampire. Copeland is Jasper’s father. Copeland will attack with vamps.
He had no idea how he knew the last part was going to happen, but it flowed from the first two points.
The dark shape could clearly be seen to be a winged creature of some kind, and it was descending towards the roof.
“What is that?” said Marina again, trying to understand what could not be refused, a man with wings was about to land in front of them.
“We had it wrong…” said Joel. He unslung the M4 from his shoulder, and aimed at the thing emerging from the gloom.
Marina did the same.
“Evan, get downstairs. Tell them we’re under attack.”
The young man’s head whipped between the vision from a medieval book that was about to become too real, and his two friends aiming their rifles at it.
“Go!”
Evan was back in the stairwell in an instant.
The demonic beast landed. Joel and Marina felt the vibration through the concrete under their feet.
It stood almost nine-feet tall, and its wings, outstretched, were at least double that. Its face was full of bony protrusions, and its skin was covered in platelets between which were scales. Its eyes glowed yellow, despite the darkness at their center. It stood upright, then slowly walked towards them.
Joel and Marina raised their rifles higher, and it stopped, raising his hand.
“There will be plenty of time for that. But for now. Where is the boy? I presume you took good care of my son?” Copeland’s voice was multilayered as if the souls of his victims were still inside him, trying to escape.
Joel heard Marina’s jaw fall open, then close as she gritted her teeth.
“He’s safe,” said Joel.
Copeland nodded. “This is good. My boy, as you probably already know, is unique amongst our kind—”
“We’re not your kind,” said Marina.
“Quite.” Copeland’s head tilted to one side as he looked between his two would-be attackers. “I see you have sired others… umm, what is your name? I could never learn that from my children.”
“Joel.”
Copeland scoffed. “Such a simple name. I presume you also have my suitcase? Before I kill you, I really must know—” A bullet ricocheted off his forehead. He frowned. “As I was saying, I really—”
A hail of fire from the M4s crashed into the being that stood before them. It covered it’s eyes and was knocked backwards a few times, but after Joel and Marina had emptied their magazines into it, it was still standing. Copeland lowered his hands.
“So now you know you cannot kill me. Tell me, why did you take the case? It was never yours.”
Joel’s heart was beating as hard as the woman’s next to him, and he could feel the vampiric side to him wanting to be let free. To be allowed to tear this abomination apart, but something told him this was not the place to do that. He looked at Marina, placing his hand on her shoulder. She looked at him, her eyes dark. “Get downstairs… Marina, trust me.”
She blinked and her eyes returned to their human variants. She nodded and was gone into the stairwell.
He looked back at Copeland and smiled. “I knew you wanted it.”
A flash of anger moved across Copeland’s lizard-like face and then was gone, replaced with a wry smile. “And where has that led you?” Copeland spun around, his arms out. “These people could have lived! I grant you, not more than a few more months, once the hordes of my children made it this far out, but they could have had some more time to enjoy their pitiful existence. And now, because of you, on this night they will all die. Although because the boy still lives, I will kill you all quickly, and some of you may even be allowed to be my children.”
Joel took a step forward. “See, this is why I hate it when vamps talk. The scourge makes you all crazy.”
By the time one of Copeland’s horned wings had sliced through air where Joel was standing, Joel had ducked and then whipped the butt of his rifle upwards, crashing it against Copeland’s jaw. The creature staggered back a few steps, then swiped a clawed hand across Joel. He blocked it with the rifle, but the force of the blow sent him flying into the side wall, which cracked on him hitting it. The sound of screams and gunfire rang out from the walls around the town.
Joel just caught glimpses of flashes and streams of neon bullets flying in the distance, when he felt the presence of Copeland and shifted to the right. An armored fist slammed into the wall, knocking some of it to the ground below.
He whirled around towards Joel, grimacing. “Your kind will not win this fight. I will find all of you, and wipe you from existence.”
Scenes from the battle on the side of the sarcophagi forced their way into Joel’s mind before he pushed them away again.
“Even as we fight up here. Those you thought you could protect are dying. I know you can hear their screams…” Copeland stood upright, his wings stretching out. “We will find the case and my boy, and by fir
st light, there will be nothing left here but food for the birds.” In the blink of an eye, he was airborne, immediately diving back down again, converging on a man running in a nearby street and slicing across him.
Joel wavered. Not from any of Copeland’s blows, but from the sounds of vampire minds around him. There were thousands. Copeland was right about one thing, staying in Haven was not an option. It was time for the backup plan.
He tore into the stairwell, descending the four flights to the basement in seconds, and burst out into the crowded area. People huddled together, holding their children close.
He ran up to Marina, standing next to Jess, Jasper, and Evan. The young girl was holding Flint’s leash tightly.
“Any word from Lucian?” said Joel.
“None,” said Marina. “I think… I can feel them, Joel, there’s too many out there. We’re not going to hold them off.”
“Give me the radio.” He took it from her. “Lucian? You out there. Over.”
A second of static was replaced with the clatter of gunfire. “If these vamps don’t kill you, I’m going to!” shouted Lucian.
“You can kill me later. Now we have to get as many people to safety as possible. Is the device ready? Over.”
“Yeah, it’s ready!”
“We need to clear a path to the north shore. Where the boats are. Can you get to the school? Over.”
A few seconds passed.
“We’re on our way!”
Joel turned to the twenty-four people behind him. “Listen up, everyone. We’re going to be running all the way to the north shore on the lake. We get into the boats and we leave. Do you all understand?”
A woman wrapped in a shawl waved her hand at Joel. “We can’t survive out there if the vamps are inside the walls!”
“I guarantee all of you, if you stay here, we’re all dead,” said Marina.
“Why don’t you protect us!” said a slender man with a ragged two-piece suit on. “We know you’re not human!”