by Maxey, Phil
CHAPTER TWENTY
Copeland watched the lights pulse and wane. Neon glows which trekked around the five chambers, seemingly with purpose, then died and were reborn again. He had been looking upon them at the back of the ‘emergence’ area as he had called it for over an hour, transfixed by the patterns and the possibilities of what might walk forth upon the earth when the time was right. He wanted to be there when it happened.
How would he greet them? These kings of old. The first kings.
Would they recognize him as their equal? Or…
An annoyance spoke words to him from feet away. Some lackey whose life’s only meaning was to convey information of real importance to others.
Copeland turned. “Yes?”
“Iona Mathews is asking for you in the situation room.”
Copeland nodded and the man walked away.
The fact that he had to move from the dazzling sight at the end of the large scientific area angered him, but he wanted the defeat and recapture of the tablet and his son to be in no doubt, and that meant he had to oversee the planned events of the next few hours himself.
He took one glance back at the sarcophagi and walked to the elevator. A few moments later he was walking along the dimly lit corridor, and then past two guards into a room full of shadows and neon glows. Humans sat working at computer terminals, and a large display, which showed a zoomed in image of the ground taken from thirty thousand feet, dominated everything. The fact that it showed farmland interspersed with blue-gray streaks told him it was old, because the sun had fallen below the horizon in San Jose.
Mathews, dressed in black army fatigues, stood upright when Copeland entered the room.
“Speak.”
She looked to the large screen. “This was the scene at the Westlands camp earlier today. They appear to be moving a large amount of people and supplies out of the camp to a new location. Approximately five miles from the town to the northwest.”
He looked at her directly. “Our contact there told us all was quiet within the camp, that Antos had made contact with the informant and was working to get control of the tablet?”
“Umm… that would appear to have been false—”
He slammed his fist down on a glass-topped illuminated table, causing cracks to appear in the surface. Those seated around stopped their jobs for a moment then continued.
“—But as you can see, they have no idea we have drone capability.”
“How far away are my legions?”
“A few hours, sir. And we have three tactical teams within strike range when you give the go ahead…”
Copeland calmed his rage, he needed to not let it get the better of him. Garret will not get away this time…
“Antos and our informant are presumed to be dead or compromised. Either way, we go ahead as planned. Do you understand?”
“Umm, of course, sir, but—”
“Yes?” His voice was deep and without mercy.
“The location they are moving to is a maximum-security penitentiary. It will be extremely difficult to breach that structure. The vamps will be virtually useless and—”
His eyes bored into her mind. She knew seeing the morning would depend upon on her being able to tell him that the mission had succeeded or not. She also knew the prison changed the plan from a guaranteed success to fifty-fifty.
“I’ll get it done, sir.”
“Inform me when it has begun.”
*****
A string of lights, like an electric eel, weaved its way across the dark moisture rich landscape along the single country road from the town to the prison.
Joel stood in the west corner tower, the one known as ‘Tower B,’ his vision extended by binoculars. He swept his view from the few points of light sparkling in the town to the south-east, the south, and then the west. The shapes of the occasional clump of trees and warehouse broke up the otherwise mundane landscape, but apart from that there were no obvious signs of danger.
‘They’re on their way’ were Holland’s words on the radio a few hours before, but Amos wasn’t able to give any ETA as the man they killed was absent of that information as well.
He sighed.
How long do we have?
The vehicles in the convoy started to pass through the first gate which was now welded back onto its hinges and was working, being manually pulled opened and closed. The next two were almost back to full function as well as blue welding sparks flew into the night a few hundred yards away from the tower.
Footsteps came from the rattling stairs behind him. He already knew it was Evan from his pattern of breathing.
“Oh, I thought there was no one up here,” said the younger man, stepping onto the floor and putting his satchel down on the desk. A blanket stuck out of the top of the bag.
“Just taking a quick look before I head back into the cellblocks.”
“You spot anything?”
“Nothing yet. Where’s Bill?”
“With Max, I think…”
Joel sensed the frustration in Evan’s voice. “There’s a lot to try and understand. It’s good Bill’s working with the scientists…”
Evan remained silent.
“So, you’re staying up here?”
“Yeah, if that’s alright? It’s too crowded down there.”
Joel placed his hand on the young man’s shoulder. “You are now Tower B’s official lookout officer.”
Evan grinned.
“You got a radio?”
“Yeah, in the bag.”
“You been taking the blood rations?”
Evan nodded.
Joel offered him the binoculars. “You want these?”
He shook his head. “My grandfather gave me his pocket scope.”
“Keep your eyes on the horizon. I have a feeling it won’t be long. There’s still five hours left of night—” He looked back at the attempts to get all of the outer gates attached. “—I can’t see them waiting until the sun’s up. There’s going to be one or two positioned up here with you with guns. The towers are the only position we have to fire back over the walls.”
“I understand…” Evan turned away to look in his bag.
Joel hesitated at the top of the steps. “We’ll get through this…”
Evan looked back with a smile. “I know.”
Joel made his way back down the stairs and onto the damp gravel outside, a few of the townspeople were contained inside the cages which the prisoners were allowed to use for their daily exercise. They watched him, muttering to themselves, as he walked to one of the side entrances.
As soon as he walked inside, the echoes of the living were impossible to ignore. He found his way to one of the connecting corridors which was full of people, some moving with purpose, but most just looking confused.
“Where are the restrooms, son?”, “Will the water be turned on?”, “Will food be handed out in the dining hall daily?” were some of the questions. He smiled and politely answered as best he could.
He felt as if they were all on a ship… an ark perhaps, but this time it wasn’t animals, but humans fighting for their survival from the deluge that was about to crash upon them.
Finally, he made it to a former staff common room which had become a makeshift center of operations.
“Any sign of them?” said Carla.
“Nothing yet.”
“They could be watching. Staying just out of sight.”
“Is everyone and everything inside the walls?” said Joel to Carla or Holland who was sitting in a chair sipping on some coffee just behind her.
“Yup, the town is now inside the prison,” said Holland.
“And the heavy stuff?”
“Parked around back,” said Carla. “I’ve sent two long guns to each of the five towers with enough ammo to last them for days.” She turned to a large piece of stained paper laid flat on a table. It was the blank side to a poster which previously hung in the same room. On it was a rough plan-view sketch of the pri
son, walls, and ten or so miles of the grasslands around it. She, along with Joel, Holland, his son, and Art, looked down at it.
“It’s pretty flat, so we’ll know when they are within a few miles from us unless they use the air.”
“There are flying vampires?” said Holland confused.
“Well, yeah, there are, but I’m more worried about the helicopters the corporation has. If they can get them here by a series of refueling stops, then they could fly over these walls and drop teams right on top of us.”
“We’ll take care of them if they do,” said Boyd. He had two shotguns strapped to his back.
“Well, point is, we need this place secure. All the main entrances within the facility need to be locked down. Then even if they do get beyond the walls it’s not going to help them much.”
Anna entered the room. “Medical facilities are up and running. I’m working with Lee and the town’s doctors and nurses. It’s a bit cramped in there, but I’m confident our triage will work.”
“And what of your kind? You ready for the fight?” said Holland to her.
“Our kind are ready to do what needs to be done,” said Joel, answering for her.
Carla’s radio came to life, informing her that all outer gates and the main entrance were locked. She looked at the others. “Now, we wait.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Shannon laid back on a lower bunk in a cell looking at a magazine. One from a number she had collected up from other cells. She was on the fifth from the small pile.
She was glad that the heavy door did a good job of keeping sounds and smells out as the world just a few feet away was one of chaos. The sounds of babies crying combined with a constant rumble of fearful questions as to what would happen next. A part of her missed her parents’ home, and the solitude, despite the dangers that came with it.
She ignored the glamorous-looking women, turning the pages slowly, and then stopped, almost in shock, as a handsome young man jumped out at her from a professionally taken photoshoot. It was a man she now loathed.
She wanted to quickly flick through the pages, getting to whatever lifestyle article came next, but instead she started reading about Daniel Copeland. The confident-looking CEO had given an interview some years before describing his intentions to find the ‘cure for aging.’ His interviewer struck Shannon as slightly arrogant, asking questions which quite clearly were designed to paint the entrepreneur as unhinged, but Daniel avoided the pitfalls stealthily, and by the end of the piece Shannon couldn’t help but like the interviewee.
She wondered how the person on the slightly soiled pages between her fingers was now the monster that was threatening to destroy one of the last remaining refuges of humanity that she knew of.
“What happened to you?” she said to the final photo.
A knock came on the door.
Like a prey animal, she froze. Maybe they would go away.
The small opening in the door slid back, bringing with it Kizzy’s face and a barrage of noise.
Shannon wondered if she could be seen in the shadows cast by the single candle that was burning nearby.
“Hey, can I come in? I’m going to kill someone if I stay out here.”
She had seen the strange quirky young woman around, and wondered what her ‘story’ had been. She also heard she was an Alkron, although she wasn’t sure what that actually meant.
“Please?” said Kizzy, grinning while pushing her face up against the bars in the gap.
At the back of Shannon’s mind, a voice was wondering how the girl outside could reach the opening in the cell door, with it being almost six-feet off the ground, and Kizzy only being around five-foot five.
“Sure…” She looked back down at her magazine, moving past the Copeland article.
Kizzy closed the window. A heavy locking system slid back, and she moved quickly inside, closing the door behind her. She had with her a backpack which she threw on the top bunk, and then threw herself up there as well, her legs dangling over the side.
The room was heavy with the absence of conversation.
Kizzy reached into her backpack and pulled out a candy bar. She slid off the side of the bunk, and held it out to Shannon. “Stole a bunch of these. They’re fruity…”
Shannon smiled, took it, then went back to reading.
Kizzy went to sit next to her, but Shannon moved away. “I’m not going to bite you or anything. I got plenty of blood, stole some of that too.”
“Good to know.”
Kizzy paused and looked down at the magazines. “Mind if I read one of these?”
“Be my guest.”
Kizzy grabbed the top one, jumped up onto the top bunk and laid back.
Shannon read a bit more, but the gardening article wasn’t shaking the questions she had rattling around her brain. “So, what are you?” she said, looking up at the springs just above her head.
“I could show you, but it might freak you out.”
“I’ve seen a lot. I can handle it.”
“Okay, well, look towards the—”
Shannon screamed, pushing herself backwards against the wall. At first, she thought a large strange snake was lowering itself down from the top bunk, but then she noticed the snake had fingers and wasn’t, in fact, a snake at all.
Kizzy’s arm and hand quickly retracted out of view.
“What the hell are you?” Shannon asked again.
“Told you it would freak you out.”
“I’m not… well I’m a little freaked out, but how did you do that?”
Kizzy jumped down to the floor again. Shannon was glad to not see any rubbery limbs. Just a normal girl stood in front of her.
“Trust me, it freaked me out too when I found out I was not like the other vamps.”
Shannon sat up. “You can stretch and stuff?”
Kizzy held her hand out, it immediately began to extend, until her arm was a foot longer. “Yeah. I just can feel my body expanding, and it does. I don’t get it. I can also do other things…”
Shannon laid back. “I think I’ll learn about them some other time. You sure you got plenty of blood?”
Kizzy smiled. “Maybe a month’s worth.”
*****
Joel stood from one of the more comfortable chairs in the common room, and looked up at the skylight. The sky was turning dark blue. Daybreak was about to happen and there had been no attack.
He looked around him. The twelve humans were asleep, and he could hear it was more or less the same throughout the prison.
He grabbed his jacket and a set of keys and walked out into the hallway then down into the silent stairwells, winding his way through the labyrinthine interior of the prison. Still some slept in the corridors, but most had now found cells. He looked through the panes of reinforced glass to the double floors of cellblocks making sure everything was as it should be.
He then made his way to one of the side exits and out into the dawn. As soon as he felt the cool air on his face he sensed he was not alone in the unused space between the main prison buildings and the wall. In the gloom of the distance a womanly figure walked, and a dog bounced around her.
He hesitated, wondering if he should turn back inside for a few moments.
“It’s fine… we should talk,” said Marina. Her voice being of such low volume that any human would have just thought it was the wind.
He jogged over to her. Flint bounded up to him and then jumped up. He ruffled the German Shepherds fur, before letting him drop back to the muddy ground.
“No attack then…” she said as a statement, not a question.
“Doesn’t look like it. They must be waiting for something… How’s Jess?”
“Bit weirded out by the amount of people here, but in some ways I think she likes it. Feels more normal.”
“Jasper?”
Despite the low light conditions he could see her expression grow heavy. “He’s afraid of his father, although he says he doesn’t think he’s coming with t
hose that will. He said something about his father has something more important to take care of.”
“More important than his son, yeah that sounds like him.”
“He can never get him back, Joel. Promise me that?”
“Not if I’m still breathing.”
She looked up at the wall, and burgeoning morning sky. “Why do you think they didn’t attack.”
“Don’t know, but I’ll take the extra time to secure things even further.”
She nodded and walked away. He searched for words to continue the conversation, but none came. He turned and walked back.
As he got to the door, Donnie ran up to him. “There you are, I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“What is it?”
“Art’s looking for you, says there’s something up with the water supply.”
“Lead me to him.”
Joel looked at the young man as they were walking to the basement entrance. “You don’t have to be in here with us. We can give you a vehicle and—”
Donnie frowned. “My place is here. I want to fight.”
“Most inside these walls don’t even know what you are. Hell, I don’t really know what you are… other than your father would be proud of you for staying. I’m just saying you won’t get any appreciation for it.”
They walked down a narrow, dark, concrete staircase, to a monotone gray corridor. Donnie switched on his flashlight. “Too dark down here even for me.”
They walked into a room which they couldn’t see the end of as it was full of machinery which shuddered and rumbled.
Art waved them over. With him were two other people, an older man and woman, both wearing flannel shirts and armless jackets with various tools in pockets.
“Tell him what you just told me,” said Art to the woman.
She held her hand out to Joel. “Name’s Josephine, but I prefer Joe. This here’s my husband Albert.”
“Pleasure,” said the man, touching his hard hat.
Josephine looked up at a series of dials on the side of a large pipe. “So, as I was saying to Art, this here is what brings up the water from the natural well under the prison.”