Vampire's Day (Book 1): Epicenter (13 page)

51. Mr. Brown 4

“There it is, the second house at the intersection, with the big red sign on the second floor!”

“I see!”

Brown had been at this location only once before, but remembered it well; his memory was excellent. It was an office and shopping center: underground parking, eatery on the ground floor, shops and many offices, one of which was owned by Muti Rosenfeld, although not officially, of course. Here, under the guise of a company making overalls, Rosenfeld Empire of smuggled gold and diamonds.

“There are twelve floors in this building; our target is on the ninth, a corner office. It is guarded by three or four former IDF soldiers; we have no connection with them, so plan B. Take only the goods!”

The city below has been rapidly changing for the worse, fires breaking out one after the other, traffic on the streets stopped by numerous accidents, at several intersections fierce firefights. The Internet was shut down as soon as they took off; the phone died earlier, radio stations were silenced one after another.

On neighboring roofs people were shouting to them, waving flags and launching flares, but Brown was thinking only about a couple of crazies on his roof. They were enthusiastically tearing someone's body and didn’t pay any attention to the approaching helicopter, and two precise shots struck their heads.

“Come on!”

With Brown went three mercenaries, fourth left guard the helicopter.

“Boss, look at this bastard!”

The corpse with a torn throat, who had been recently torn by crazies, was not quite dead - he began to attempt to stand up, so Brown stopped him with a single shot. The information from the military was fully confirmed - bullets killed these crazy freaks without any problems.

“Gas masks!”

Brown had received from Muti the plans of the building, and had already mapped out the route through the fire exit, but he needed an advantage, and gas will be this advantage. It was the newest gas, developed for police to suppress riots – a couple of breaths are enough to cause people to fall into spasms that would make it hard to resist. Brown had procured these chemical grenades, and now threw a couple of cylinders down the stairs, hoping that if the bullets killed the crazies, then gas would get them too, clearing the way. The gas was working, on the way down to the ninth floor they found just a couple of bodies writhing in convulsions.

At the entrance to the corridor, he threw another grenade, waited half a minute and went to the workshop door. Once the thin glass door was open, Brown threw a dazzling grenade - he remembered the guards, who also may have gas masks.

“Clear!”

There was just one guard and he had been dead for several hours, the cause of death three gunshot wounds in the chest and abdomen. A few employees usually worked here, but where they were now was unknown. In the office was just broken furniture, piles of torn clothes and blood stains on the floor.

“Second door!”

Brown pointed to the calendar with a naked woman, behind which was a narrow closet door. It appeared to be very weak, and might fly off its hinges from any impact. In fact, under the calendar and upholstery was two inches of armor steel, and without the access code received from Muti, cracking this door would be very difficult.

“Don’t shoot, please!”

Brown didn’t expect to find anyone living in the workshop, and almost shot the woman, who was hidden under the tables. Now he was glad he hadn’t shot her – she was not hurt and might be useful.

“Hands up! Who are you, and how did you get here?”

“I work here. I started my shift when the shooting started, and then they all went crazy, tearing at each other… I ran into the workshop, they tried to get in with me, but could not open the door, only I know the code.”

“What's your name?”

“S-S-Sarah.”

“Sarah, why is it only you who knows the code? What is your work for Muti, the jeweler?”

“No, the estimator.”

Brown’s broad smile lit up the small dark workshop.

“Estimator? Well, that's just fine. Miss Sarah, today is your lucky day! If you know the code, open the safe if you please.”

Muti waited for that call, and yet, when the phone finally rang, he almost dropped it from the excitement.

“Brown?”

“Yes, Muti.”

“You're in the workshop, is it OK?”

“Workshop? Yes, the workshop is in order, it’s not looted, don’t worry. But then we have some problems. Muti, you're not wrong with the assessment of the content? Forty-five million in diamonds and gold?”

“Yes… yes, forty-five, plus or minus a hundred thousand.”

“Strange, but Miss Vezhbovski who is present here has a slightly different figure. Sarah, please repeat, I forgot...”

“One hundred and seventy-two million, four...”

“Sarah, stupid bitch, shut the fuck up!”

“Muti, you can’t be so rough with a girl, especially with my colleague. Yes, Sarah is now working for me; I urgently needed an estimator, thinking to do jewelry business. And as my new employee, she helped me to count the contents of your safe. So, the price of your cargo is almost four times higher than estimated, which means that the cost of delivery has increased by four. I'll take forty million, plus another one and half for Sarah, you'll have to pay for her place in the helicopter.”

“Brown, you fuc…”

“Muti, shut up, please. I can change my mind and pick up not a quarter, but all one hundred and seventy-two million, and you can’t do anything. You're a smuggler, and can’t tell the court; moreover, I don’t think that the courts will be effective soon. And if you decide to use force, remember that I know where you and all your relatives live, including your beloved granddaughter, so I can come to visit them. So, let's not spoil relations. I won’t take it all because I will soon need an expert on jewelry for its successful turnover in the future. Well, Muti, we still partners?”

“Yes, partners. Bring my one hundred thirty million, and we’re partners.”

“Excellent. And now, if you want to reduce losses, give me an address of your partners; those who are truly have money and gold. One million for each proven tip.”

52. LJ

“Easy pal, put down your machine gun.”

“I am calm as a gravestone, especially with a machine gun. I will not give up my gun, so don’t count on it, cop.”

The drug dealer and the cop stood in front of each other, the barrels of their guns aimed at the bloodstained gun shop floor.

“OK, leave this meat grinder yourself. You don’t look like the shop owner, so how did you get here?”

LJ laughed nervously.

“Cops never change. How did I get here? Yeah, like all those people who lie dead around us – I ran here, escaping from vampires. To begin with, I tried to find a car and get out of the city, but damn spikes on the pavement struck my wheel, so I had to flee on foot. There were more and more vampires, they surrounded me, and I ran here. It is a gun shop, isn’t it? By that time, they’d organized a bit of a fortress here, and me and these other people fought, took this RPK. I don’t know who the boss is here, this woman cop led the defense, she was very brave.”

The patrolman looked at the corpse. He seemed to have met her a couple of times at work, but couldn’t remember her name.

“And what happened?”

“What happened? And then they attacked us. There were many, and they wanted our blood to drink. You already know that they need blood; they tear throats with their teeth. Vampires, fucking vampires. You saw how many corpses there were at the main entrance? I shot two children, a pregnant lady, an old man and a few more, and it was not at all fun. It’s strange talking about killing people with a cop, and he won’t do anything about it, because he probably shot a bunch of people this morning too, right?”

The patrolman looked around his small force, in the battle he’d lost three men. Yes, the drug dealer was right; there would be no trial for murder. Even rapists and robbers now had guns, and he would not take them. The main thing was that they shot vampires looters, brought all guns inside the shop and prepared for defense. Legality would be for the future, if there was a future.

“We have repulsed a couple of attacks, and it went quiet. And then, an hour later, they repeated the attack. Only this time, it wasn’t only crazies. There were smart vampires, with weapons in their hands. A few cops, a couple street guys, someone else. They shot well, and half of our men was murdered. We found in the basement fifty-caliber gun and shot point-blank, and then they drove a bulldozer and demolished the wall. Those of us who survived this retreated to the second floor, where they squeezed us into a corner and threw grenades. I thought I was dead, a grenade exploded near me, that's why I am bleeding. All the others were killed, and then you came. End of story.”

They had now a lot of weapons, enough to equip the entire squad, but had no food and water.

“No, there is nothing to eat, we all ate when the first attack was repulsed,” admitted LJ.

“This cop woman, her radio worked? She contacted someone from the leadership, did she receive orders?”

“There were no orders; every man is for himself, as in the jungle. TV didn’t work, the net either, but there are battery radios and they reported that its vampires, saying that the military have left the city and it’s necessary to hide, then talked some nonsense about the end of the world. And then the enemy’s radio was on, Vampire-FM.”

“What do you mean - their radio?”

LJ got a little old receiver.

“Hear for yourself!”

There was strong interference, and then excerpts of phrases in several languages. Finally, a voice, a strong male voice, said clearly and authoritatively.

“…You will be granted… pastors over your lambs, and as good shepherds, you must protect your lambs. Herd them into pens, feed and protect them, and then the lambs will reward you by giving you Bliss…”

“Do not kill your lambs without extreme need, because without them you will die of starvation. Increase them by collecting from anywhere…”

“Nonsense, what are these lambs?”

“Well, you cops can be really stupid when you want. Lambs are a beast that’s bred for meat. This is us. And they are like shepherds, they will eat us when they need to. I'm telling you, it's their radio, Vampire-FM. It is telling vampires what to do.”

“Now they are broadcasting some mad priest, and before that there were other programs, like for the cops or the military. They talked about areas of the city and some streets, said that there is a refugee collection center or a gun shop, or a strong army detachment and better not to go there. Gave orders. Sometimes said - group number… go there. I heard them say that it is necessary to collect the hungry, that were repeated several times. And then we saw how they did it.”

“What did you see?”

“Come on.”

They went up the stairs strewn with broken bricks to the dirty attic.

“There is a window, look out carefully.”

The patrolman looked out of the window; he saw a huge parking lot with several dozen broken cars and bodies. On the other side was a burning building, which looked to be a private clinic.

“No one there.”

“They have already left. I came up here between attacks; thought we would be able to escape through the roof. We were unable to escape, but I saw a huge trailer where the fire is now. And crazies beside it, a few hundred or more. The trailer stopped, and then a woman got out of the cab and opened the rear hatch. I don’t know how she did it, but they climbed into the trailer all together. Several fell and they trampled them, and then the loading was over, and the woman got into the cab and the trailer left.

“What kind of woman?”

“In cop uniform, like you.”

“Even better. So, we can’t stay here.”

“Where do you think you can go?”

“We have a truck. I want to go to the coast, I heard on the radio that there are our ships. Do you have a better idea?”

Drug dealer pointed to three high houses.

“I wanted to get into the Towers, I always dreamed about robbing those wealthy apartments. There's a fenced area, and powerful security, it’s an actual fortress. When it all started, many people fled there, and there were a few hours of shooting. But there are no shots anymore, so I think the Towers are fucked up. So, let's go to the beach.”

53. Juke Box

“Shot!”

As if in slow motion the blast threw aside the National Guardsmen armored troop-carrier. Machine gun pounded the tank armor like a jackhammer, there were flames on the starboard – the crazies threw Molotov cocktails.

“Forward!”

Juke Box slowly moved, crushing several bodies lying on the pavement, the soldiers following, hiding behind the tank. Ivanov hoped that they knew who they should shoot; he doesn’t know this for sure. He recently received a message on the radio, saying "Infected among us!" Since then he had had no connection with anyone.

At the remains of a checkpoint, marines, national guards and the guys from the military police began to fight, and then shot each other. From the highway rushed hundreds of crazies. Ivanov met them, shooting shrapnel into the limousine standing across the road, the blast scattering bleeding people like autumn leaves. The first tank commander shouted that he was fighting with the marines in the western quarter, and then contact broke. The last thing Ivanov heard was "They’re coming from the rear!" Beside him on the barricade, one soldier attacked his comrades, but they managed to shoot him almost immediately, and then again started firing machine guns from the upper floors of apartment buildings.

“We have to go to the coast, or we will burn in these streets!”

“Boss, left!”

“Fuck!”

Engulfed in flames, the first tank slowly left the crossroads: turret hatch open, corpses sticking out of it. Ivanov realized what had happened – the marines had bypassed the first number, and made a couple of shots from a grenade launcher in the stern. Where were the second and third tank?

“Ahead, in that burning house!”

One of the soldiers near the tank fell with a bullet in his head, the survivors opened fire in the direction of the house. Juke Box turned the cannon, the jet trail of a rocket a meter above the turret.

“Shoot!”

The burning house shattered, Ivanov thought he saw a body with a rocket launcher.

“Machine gun on the warehouse!”

The machine gun shot without stopping until Juke Box silenced it with shrapnel grenade. The shooting briefly abated, Ivanov was trying to figure out what to do next. Who should he shoot? Those who shot him, that was the only answer. It was hard to distinguish the enemy from allies, when there uniform and weapons were identical. Why was the radio silent? Where was the second and third tank? A helicopter passed over the quarter. Who was a pilot, a man or a crazy?

“Go to the beach!”

The marines opened fire - again against crazies, many of them rushed from the houses along the road. They were civilians without guns, so Ivanov decided not to waste shells, the marines could handle it.

“Armored truck behind!”

A fifty-caliber hit the marines in the back.

“Shoot!”

They destroyed the armored truck, but still had a lot of enemies; soldiers with rocket-propelled grenades attacked his tank. They hit the turret on a tangent, but the armor stood. Ivanov shot a crazy with the anti-aircraft machine gun.

The second missile tears off the spaced armor, Ivanov managed to kill a soldier with a grenade launcher, and he can’t get the third vampire, which is now shoot them in the ass as the first tank. An enemy with a grenade launcher fall to the pavement, Ivanov sees soldier who saved Juke Box, his waving hand – don’t wait, go!

“Thanks!”

Tiger didn’t hear, the words were muffled by the roar of Juke Box, which he had just saved from a direct shot. The tank should be protected; it was now their only trump card against vampires.