Vampire's Day (Book 1): Epicenter (19 page)

71. Visual observation

The crowd stretched along the street, people walking slowly, driven along by angry shouts and shots. Men, women and children, young and old, rich and poor, all sorts of people - they were all here, slowly and uncertainly stepping into the unknown. Ivanov felt that he had seen a similar picture somewhere in the past. He remembered black and white footage; German prisoners marched into Moscow, summer 1944. But that was a recently beaten army, and failed invaders trying to hold the line. Here, without any order, civilians were paralyzed by fear and misunderstood what was happening. Their usual world had collapsed in a few hours, and they were not ready yet to accept a new world and their role in it.

“The second car with a machine gun on the right side.”

“I see.”

Next to a huge prisoner’s column he could see guards. Many of them had recently been seriously injured, blood soaking their clothes, but they were different – they were not taking weak short steps, but strode proudly and with force. They were the hosts in this collapsed world, latter-day self-appointed rulers, who chased their prey in captivity. Men and women with a variety of guns, they were walking or riding on motorcycles and cars.

“Jimenez, come here.”

Jimenez climbed to the attic, which had become a temporary observation post for their squad.

“You know more about vampires, so explain to me why they are taking prisoners? I haven’t seen this before. When I saw them they just immediately killed their victims.”

Ivanov gave Jimenez a set of binoculars and she carefully looked out.

“Blood.”

“What?”

“They need blood; vampires without blood go crazy in less than a day, and blood is something they can only take from living, uninfected person. That's why vampires need all these people - to take blood. They are the lambs, collected together and protected. Without these people, the vampires will die of Hunger.”

There were suddenly many shots, and a fierce skirmish on the street. From the attic, they see a mad crowd rushing towards the convoy from ruined tower blocks. They were crazies, armed mostly with baseball bats, pieces of pipes and kitchen knives. Only two or three of them had firearms.

Attackers tried to break through the protective line and get the prisoners, and the guards were trying everything they could to stop them. The guards had superiority in firepower and the crazies fell to the asphalt, one after another. The shooting stopped once the enemies were destroyed. A woman in a police uniform came up and finished several prisoners with single shots, those who had been bitten by the attackers. Order had been restored, and they could continue walking.

“What the fuck was that?”

“It was starving creatures. There are too many vampires, and too little blood for all of them, and they have to fight for it. These organized vampires protect their prey from their competitors, killing the other infected.”

“So, these bastards have started killing each other? Good!”

A patrol cop came to the attic.

“Tankman, your colleagues from the armed forces are here, they want to talk to the commander.”

72. Military Council

“Lieutenant Thompson, SEAL.”

The lieutenant had three men with him, all in wetsuits with short-guns.

“Our job is reconnaissance; we are studying the effects of a nuke hit. We were told that there is no more organized resistance to the vampires in the LA, that there are no more real people here.”

Ivanov smiled and pointed to his small squad.

“As you can see, we are still alive and organized, resisting these bloodsucking scums. We have a tank and thirty-two infantry men.”

“But those are civilians.”

“Lieutenant, they were civilians this morning. And now they are experienced soldiers, ready to fight. We have fought together; together it is easier to resist the vampires. What's going on outside?”

“The cordons have been breached, and the entire state is now a declared war zone. There is heavy fighting in San Diego, but it was easier than here, because we already knew what we were dealing with. There have been several outbreaks in the country. The world is in a panic. That's what I'm supposed to know.”

Ivanov cast a long look at the destroyer in the ocean. What was needed here was not a destroyer; they needed a carrier or amphibious vehicles.

“How are you going to take us out of here?”

“We don’t have this capability. You have to break out – we can’t send helicopters for you, the vampires knock them down quickly.”

“Can you cover us with air strikes? If we find cars and start to leave the city, will our aircraft help us?”

“I think so, I will talk about it to my command. The vampires have no air force yet.”

“That's good. And, most importantly, what should we do with all these people?” The cop pointed to the prisoners.

Thompson exchanged nervous glances with his men.

“I have no orders about this, we aren’t rescuers. I didn’t think we’d end up meeting people here. The vampires have started to take prisoners?”

“Yes, they take them alive. They don’t kill them, or turn them into vampires, so that they can take the blood. You have to save the prisoners.”

“We can’t!”

“Yes, you can.”

Jimenez’s lips trembled with rage, but her voice was calm and convincing.

“Lieutenant, listen to me carefully. You are a new man in this city, and I am familiar with vampires from this morning. I have something to tell you about them. Vampires need these people alive to take their blood, without it the vampires die in less than a day. So these people are the most important enemy resource, more important than oil and food. That is why the army and navy must save these people - simply to deny the enemy resources. Release the prisoners, and the vampires die from hunger. That's why you have to save these people - to win this war. Give that message to your commanders.”

“OK, I will. But no promises.”

73. Counterstrike

“Fuck!”

“What is it?”

Jimenez and Tiger stood together, watching the prisoner’s column.

“I saw a girlfriend of mine,” Tiger said, staring at the girl from the shattered store, who sold him the non-alcoholic beer.

“Is she a guard?”

“No, she is a prisoner. I told her to go away!”

“I guess she didn’t have time to escape. Don’t worry - she is a prisoner, which means she is still human. We'll save her.”

“Yes, we will. Look, you said that vampires could smell human blood. If so, why have they still not noticed us?”

“I think the scent of this huge crowd of prisoners is too strong and deceiving them. That is why there are no more crazies in these houses – they’ve all run to the convoy, and the guards have shot them. Jones and Smith told me this exactly – the Hunger is both the strength and weakness of a vampire.”

Patrol and LJ came up to them.

“What did you see?”

“About thirty guards. They have cars, four or five, and periodically head out somewhere. They appear to be hunting for people. There are several bikers and guards armed with machine guns. On the cars we have seen grenade launchers and stingers.”

“Hey, there she is!”

“Who?!”

“That woman in police uniform, who led the assault on Towers.” LJ pointed to the cop woman with the radio. “That's exactly she is, I remember. Apparently, she is the commander.”

“Clear. Listen carefully,” Patrol said. “Reinforcements came to Thompson, a few snipers, but we also have our work, choose targets. We’ll start the attack at nine o'clock, after three minutes. We will have helicopters and a destroyer for fire support.”

“I hope they will support us better than this afternoon,” Tiger said.

“Don’t worry, we will give them hell. Before only the vampires attacked, and we just defended ourselves – it's time to fight back.”

“Tell the tankman to be careful, and not to crush people on the street.”

“Juke Box will not fight here. In the district there are a lot of vampire’s gangs, seeking out people. If we slay the guard, they will all come here; also, reinforcements could be added to these organized vampires, and that is when the tank gun is needed the most. OK, it’s time to begin.”

Patrol and LJ left, while Jimenez and Tiger prepared their weapons for battle.

“Aim for the gunner in the car, and I'll take the bitch in the uniform,” said Jimenez. “I won’t let that bastard wear this uniform.”

The last Hungry attack was violent, but completely disorganized. Apparently, they had never tasted blood, and long
starvation
damaged their minds, so the crazies threw themselves on the column without any plan or weapons, except for baseball bats and kitchen knives. Her guards had already been immersed in combat experience and repulsed this attack without any loss of prisoners, reducing the number of competitors.

“Move!” Number Three said, and again took up the radio.

“Be attentive. Somewhere there is a large group of people, led by the military. They even have a tank; they’ve destroyed several of our posts.”

“They have a tank? And you still didn’t manage to find them?”

“We lost our drone in this area, and we’re now making a new one. We are looking for them. They are somewhere nearby, heading to the coast.”

Number Three didn’t answer; she saw Jimenez at the moment that she pulled the trigger.

74. Counterstrike 2

They fired from both sides of the street – Thompson’s snipers from the left, and the best gunmen of Ivanov’s squad from the right. A few seconds of shooting killed nearly half of the guards.

Knocking down the woman in the police uniform, Jimenez then hit the guard. Tiger fired at the truck with a machine gun in the back. At the far end of the street, the vampires tried to get together an organized resistance, but the Apache, which rose suddenly above the houses
,
decided the outcome of the battle with auto cannon.

“Hold your fire!”

“Quickly, the Hungry may now come here!”

Out on the street, Jimenez saw one of Ivanov’s squad killing the wounded vampires. They won, but that was not enough. Now they would have to rescue the prisoners – they needed more men with guns.

“We are the representatives of the army and navy, and have come here to help you! All, who knows how to use a gun - take it from the dead vampires. Now everyone must fight, because the vampires will certainly counterattack!”

Short turn from right - Tiger shot down a couple hungry.

“Where is Thompson?”

“I don’t know!”

There was movement behind. Jimenez turned abruptly, and saw that the woman in the police uniform was not quite dead.

“That bitch, she has a bulletproof vest!”

Number Three slowly raised her hands.

“Calm down, officer, now is the time for negotiation. You can’t get out of the city, so let's discuss it…”

“OK,” said Jimenez and shot Number Three twice in the face.

A sudden blast wave blew out the windows.

“What is that?!”

“Our destroyer is working. The vampires have launched a counterattack, because they want to recapture the prisoners.”

“We must take all these people away!”

Thompson suddenly appeared.

“Jimenez, lead the people to the pier, there is a cargo ship. Evacuate them by water.”

“There could be vampires on that ship!”

“They were there, but my men killed them, and then got together a crew that is waiting for you. They are ready to go to sea. Move as quickly as possible, and we'll cover you. Take all armed civilians with you.”

“Officer!”

Tiger drove to her lightweight motorcycle.

“This is for you. Good luck!”

“Good luck!”

75. Counterstrike 3

This time Tiger enjoyed shelling from the sea, enjoyed every last shell that was now falling on the enemy’s heads. Blasts rattled one by one. From his position, he saw cars fly into the air and houses scatter into small pieces. Strong artillery support was needed now more than ever.

“Single only, saving ammo!” he called to the national guardsman, and carefully took aim. He had a lot of targets - faced with strong resistance; the vampires were now using proven tactics: attacking from behind the Hungry waves, letting the crazies go forward in spite of strong fire. The rescued civilians had not yet reached the ship, and the vampires sensed blood, rushing forward with a fragment of a pipe or piece of brick or with bare hands. The enemy had a huge numerical superiority. Resistance would not scare them off, and the crazies didn’t notice severe wounds - only death could stop them.

“Get down!”

There were explosions at their positions, and behind them was a killed machine gun crew – the vampires were using mortars. They knew their job - sending thousands of crazies to die, they secretly followed them and, with strong and accurate fire, destroyed the few defenders of the harbor.

“First group - drop behind!”

Tiger, with the guardsman, ran across the alley between two burning houses, and jumped out on the street. They saw the prisoners going to the pier, and there was a going on fight as well - militia shooting down a few of the Hungry.

“Why are they going so slowly?”

“I don’t know. Take a position here, at the crossroads.”

Rolling out an abandoned car like a shield, they almost immediately met the next Hungry attack. The mortar shelling continued, mines falling around them, and then everything suddenly become quiet – perhaps their enemies were changing position.

“We have a breakthrough at the second crossroads!”

The guardsman made a couple of shots, reaching for a new magazine and then fell from a sniper strike in the head. Tiger hid behind the car and tried to remove the ammunition from those killed. A machine gunner joined the sniper, and dozens of bullets hit his car. Apparently, they wanted to allow the crazies to approach him. The crackle of machine guns is covered by auto cannon roar, and a helicopter slipped overhead, continuously firing on the vampires’ positions. The shelling stopped, allowing Tiger to meet his attackers. He killed three more Hungry, firing point-blank. Reloading his gun, he saw a helicopter circling above the street when a rocket hit it. The Apache fell swathed in flames and smoke, collapsing a house behind him.

“We start loading now!”

Tiger suddenly realized that he was now alone on this street – the rest of the defenders had retreated or were dead. He heard Juke Box’s engine roar somewhere near and the thunder of the tank gun. Soldiers ran to the scene of the helicopter’s crash-landing - through the cracked window, he saw a woman pilot, still alive. The Hungry also saw her, and were already trying to reach her, so a few single shots had very timely.

“Can you get out?”

“No, my leg is broken! What about the operator?”

“She's dead. I'll get you out, but it’s going to hurt! Take your gun and watch my back from these bastards. Hold on!”

With great difficulty, Tiger pulled the pilot of the helicopter and dragged her to the pier.

***

A heavy blow threw Jimenez aside like a rag doll. She hit the ground, and for some time was unable to rise, gulping air like a fish out of water. And yet she was alive. The heavy body armor, taken as a trophy from the vampire woman, had saved her from three hits in the stomach.

“Get up, get up!”

LJ set her on feet, and put in trembling hands a bloodstained AK47.

“We will rest in the morgue, sister. Now shoot!”

They still held the line - a few soldiers and sailors, police and firefighters, and civilians with guns, that Jimenez called militia. They had managed to bring the column to the pier, and now they would have to protect the ship until the end.

Caught off-guard by the unexpected attack, the vampires quickly recovered and went into an immediate counter-attack driven by their determination to return the captives at all costs. The enemy’s numerical superiority was overwhelming, and the defenders had held for so long only because the naval artillery helped them. The vampires went on the attack again and Jimenez raised the gun.

She seems that she had been shooting vampires for many hours; although the beginning of the fight was not more than forty minutes ago.

“Armored car at the second crossing!”

At the crossroads appeared a strange vehicle which Jimenez could hardly identify as an old Ford pickup. It was covered on all sides with rusty steel sheets. The improvised armor worked - she hit the car several times without any visible results. The return fire from the vehicle was accurate and fatal, killed several of the militia.

“We need a more powerful weapon!”

“I have!”

This was the patrol cop, carrying a trophy RPG on his shoulder.

“I need to get closer, cover me! On the count of three - one, two, three!”

Jimenez, LJ, a firefighter and a couple of militia opened fire on the homemade armored car, which was slowly moving forward, issuing snapping bursts of machine gun. A militia woman lost her head, as a heavy bullet whizzed close past Jimenez. The armored car suddenly shuddered, as if from a strong kick. The RPG had struck it in the side. There was silence, no more live enemies to be seen.

“Be careful, they have snipers!”

Jimenez liked this silence. The ship with the refugees could now go to sea, and she began to think that she might survive this day.

Juke Box returned, with the roar of the tank engine. Jimenez already sees tank, creeps from the burning truck, sees a huge black number 3 at the turret. Stop, Juke Box side number - 4.

The patrol and several of the militia began to emerge from the devastated shop and crossed to the tank. Jimenez saw the huge turret turn.

“Get back, its vampires!”

Tank made a shot. The shop rose into the air, burying people under its ruins.

“The vampires have a tank, they have a tank! We urgently need help, it’s moving to the harbor! Stop it!”

Jimenez, LJ and the firefighter withdrew, but number three, crushing body on the pavement, don’t pay attention to them, going forward, to turn in the harbor.

***

“They're on the roof, between those two satellite dishes.”

“I see!”

Shot. Attic, from which just flew anti-tank missile, slowly and silently rises to the sky and turning to hail of debris. Machine-gun burst at the hotel first floor were flashed some figures. Don’t stop, Juke Box has no infantry support and now they need to get off these streets, next missile can find the target.

“Two cars at nine o’clock!”

Shot. The blast threw the cars away, while an RPG grenade tore off anti-aircraft guns.

“How many shells?”

“Three. We’re down to the last ammunition box for the machine gun!”

“Go to the pier!”

Juke Box lunged forward, pushing through the burning playground.

“Tank, they have a tank! The vampires have a tank, it’s going to the ship, stop it!”

“Fuck, its David! Where is he now?”

“Near the drugstore!”

“And where is this drugstore?!”

Juke Box slows down, as Ivanov laid out a city map.

“Jimenez, tell me, where is he now?”

“He stopped; he is still at the drugstore!”

The gunner turned to the commander.

“What is it? Why does he not come to the ship?”

“Пидарас! He’s waiting for us. He knows that we are going to the harbor, and he wants us to pop out into the street from the alley, at which point he’ll shoot us on board.”

“And what shall we do?”

“Don’t keep him waiting!”

Jimenez watched the vampire’s tank, peering cautiously around the corner. It had stopped for some reason, even though a minute before tank was triumphantly moving down the street, sweeping away nearly thirty militia with shells, machine guns and caterpillar tracks. Now it stood, turning the huge turret, without turning off the engine. Tank moved another couple of meters and froze again. Between burning houses flashed some figures – the vampire’s infantry. A couple of improvised armored vehicles appeared on the street.

“Jimenez, if you're still alive, open fire on that bastard with all that you have!”

Jimenez didn’t shoot at the tank; she opened fire on the vampire’s infantry, with LJ and the firefighter supporting her. They have to run almost immediately, Third turned armored head toward them, but not use main caliber, only machine gun.

“What is this?”

Burning houses on the opposite side began to fall one by one, almost like Los Angeles was being hit by another earthquake. But the asphalt underfoot wasn’t moving.

“What the fuck?” she whispered, watching the tank turret turning from side to side.

“Surprise!”

Invisible to the enemy, passing through several adjoining houses, Juke Box popped up in the street from the facade of the liquor store, the turret turning to Number Three.

“Hear us, bastard.” Ivanov saw in his sight the Third turret turning. “Stay calm, shoot!”

“Hit!”

“Towards the pier!”

Rounding the burning Third tank, Juke Box came to the crossroads, turned around and slowly moved backwards to the pier, holding at gunpoint Vampire’s Land.