Vampire's Day (Book 1): Epicenter (6 page)

24. Prisoner

For three years, he got up like clockwork at a certain time thanks to the alarm, but today's wake-up call was served much earlier than usual, disrupting his internal clock. At the same time as the siren lamps turned on, blindingly bright, and a voice came from the speaker. “Stand up, face the wall!”

He unquestioningly obeyed. The heavy door to the airlock was opened, letting in three soldiers with guns wearing green army biological protection suits.

“No funny tricks!”

They snapped handcuffs on his wrists, quickly put a black bag over head and pushed him into the airlock chamber.

“Go!”

When the bag was pulled off, prisoner A-480 found himself chained to a chair, sitting at a metal table in a small room, with gray concrete walls and a large mirror. The table itself was securely bolted to the floor. Someone stood behind him, most likely one of the soldiers, but he couldn’t see him, the chains didn’t give him any room to turn.

For a while the room was quiet, and then the prisoner laughed, looking at his reflection in the mirror.

“Can tell me what happened?”

“A-480, what makes you think that something has happened?” A calm male voice came from the speaker.

“Last time I was brought for questioning fifteen months ago, four hundred and sixty-one days, to be exact. And then suddenly you pull me out of bed in the middle of the night to talk. You must have a good reason for it. Let me guess - the incident occurred. Or maybe an attack?”

“There is no time for guesswork!” A new voice sounded, female, strong and at the same time excited. ”Will you help us?”

“And how can I help you? You have something that has gone wrong, but I don’t know anything about it, so what kind of help do you expect from me? What can I do?”

“Share information with us.”

“I've done it so many times. You questioned me with lie detectors and truth serums thirty-seven times, and know that I didn’t lie to you and have told you everything I know. I have nothing to add. It’s hard to learn much from a single cell with no connection with the outside world.”

“Then we would appreciate it if you’d share your assumptions about what is happening. Prolonged isolation doesn’t prohibit thinking. To facilitate your task - we did have an incident…”

“What do I think? Let's just say, I knew that sooner or later it would happen. Honestly, I’ve been waiting for this for a while.”

Second pause.

“Why? Why were you so sure? Answer, cooperation with us is your last chance of survival!”

“Calm down, dear, whatever your name is. You've got to be me to understand why I was so sure. It’s because I feel Hunger. You give me what the Hunger wants, because you don’t want me to die. The Hunger doesn’t prevail, and I am calm. But if it grows, I would do anything to satisfy it. Now imagine your enemies lurking somewhere, hiding from you, all this time enduring Hunger. This can’t go on forever - sooner or later Hunger will expel the wolf pack from the lair. Only in this case it didn’t happen at random - it happened exactly when and how they planned it.”

“How do you know?”

“Stop being idiots, you know what they are, you have all the files. I was not with them for the first time, I'm just a man from the crowd, but even I know what they can do. I saw. What you have here is not a random attack, like the first time. This attack, this is the most interesting war in human history. I’m sorry I won’t see it, it would be very interesting.”

“Want to take part?”

A shaven man in an orange robe gazed into the mirror.

“Honey, the man who sits in front of you didn’t expect to live to this day. I thought I would live for about four, six months maximum. You probably know about AIDS, which was transmitted to me by my lover. I was in this city, because I went there to die, I wanted to die in style. Lots of liquor, lots of cocaine and lots of boys. One of them, the last one, gave me this scar on my neck. Then I had some of the best days of my life. After the explosion, I was picked up by your commandos and since then I have lived in this chamber. And four months have passed, and six months have passed, and the year, but where is the AIDS, which is supposed to kill me?

“The AIDS has disappeared, as if it had never been. Tuberculosis has also disappeared, with which you tried to infect me. Also gone are syphilis, anthrax, cholera, smallpox, meningitis, encephalitis, polio, and many more different infections from your arsenals. You have tried all your biological weapons on me, and what?

“The result is that there is no disease that could kill me. Hunger takes care of me, it protects me. I'm young and full of energy, which is my gift, what you refer to as a curse. Hunger is not only force; Hunger gives incomparable pleasure in the moment when I get the blood. You have to try it yourself, and then we can understand each other.”

“Get to the point - what do you suggest?”

“Make contact with them, start negotiations. These people are essentially reasonable; they worked for this opportunity in advance. I think that they are waiting for your call. If you take too much time, every hour things will get worse. If you want, I can become a mediator and…”

A small pistol in the soldier’s hand silently made a shot. A-480 swayed and fell face down on the table.

“We should have done this before now.” The woman's voice can’t hide her joy. “What will we tell management?”

“Tell them the truth - things are bad and continue to deteriorate. The worst thing is that he was probably right about the negotiations, it’s necessary to consider the possibility. Call the Operations Center.”

25. Selection

“Doctor.”

“Left!”

“Actor.”

“Right!”

“Prostitute.”

“Right!”

“The real estate agent and…”

“I don’t fucking care who else! Right! Move on!”

“Unemployed.”

“Right!”

“Police.”

“Left!”

“Locksmith.”

“Left!”

“Publisher.”

“Right!”

The selection was quick. There were no documents: the names, dates and places of birth did not interest anyone here. Those who were too old were killed at the entrance. Others build a long line headed down the hall to the second turn, where they were all asked one question - “Work?”

“Copywriter.”

“Right!”

“Dentist.”

“Right, no, left!”

“Pilot.”

“Left!”

The vast majority went to the right door, behind which all of them found a spacious dimly-hall with closed gates and a couple of machine gunners at the entrance. Not many were able to go through the left door, although behind it was a similar hall. The vast majority don’t understand the difference, but some in the right hall were unhappy. Some of these malcontents tried to go back to the hallway and go through the left door, but they were shot at the entrance. The gunners had strict orders.

“Model.”

“Right!”

“Crane.”

“Left!”

Vampires don’t have to check the answer to the simple question, looking for confirmation in labor exchanges or the police databases. The secret is simple - the one who has been infected recently and has never satisfied hunger, for a while loses the ability to think coherently, and lost the ability to lie. Running down the long corridor people whose throat ripped, and clothes bathed in own blood, don’t understand why a man with a gun want to know whom they work and what they do, and they respond to his short question honestly and simply. Understanding that a small lie can save lives comes much later.

“Photographer.”

“Right!”

“Stripper.”

“Right!”

“Mechanic.”

“Left!”

The mechanic took a step to the side and went through the left door. The stockbroker, who followed after him, went right. Next, next, next.

STAGE THREE: DEFENCE AND ATTACK

26. Boozer

“Turn off this fucking music, damn you!”

There was no reply, and hideous music continued through the thin wall. This is why he woke up. The next shit morning begins or whatever time is it.

Boozer ran a hand through his pants - dry. It’s good luck that he didn’t piss - all his clean pants have long gone. So, how about refueling? On a wooden table, among packages of cheap grub, towered empty bottles. He tried them all; maybe there was something on the bottom… Not a drop. His hand fumbled under the chair on the dirty synthetic carpet. He felt a bottle and, to his joy, something gurgled. He almost brought the bottle to lips, but trembling fingers failed him, and he dropped his prize.

“Fuck!”

The bottle fell to the carpet, and the booze ran out. The morning was turning out to be extremely shitty.

“Refrigerator,” Boozer said to himself, then repeated several more times. ”My refrigerator.”

Yes, he had a refrigerator, and in there, on the bottom shelf surrounded by rotting vegetables, must lay a bottle of vodka. It is there, he put it there just in case, and now Boozer praised himself for his foresight.

The way to the kitchen was distant and difficult, and Boozer walked very slowly, limping badly. But he got into the hall, to meet there a hideous face on the wall that stared at him with hatred in its eyes. Mirror. An old dirty mirror, which he’d always intended to throw away. On the right corner of the mirror is attached a photo - a smiling young man, and, to the left of him, a laughing young woman. They look like they are laughing at him, so Boozer hates the photo more than the mirror. Now to the kitchen, with a short stop in the shithouse.

A bottle of vodka was waiting for him exactly where it was supposed to be, on the bottom shelf of spoiled vegetables. Above the bottle was a whole can of sardines, which he ate immediately as a snack. The sardines were bad, but there was nothing else, so Boozer got the vodka while he ate them.

That bastards neighbors played movies at the same volume as the music that had woken him. It was obviously an action film; he could hear gunfire and screams. Boozer tried a couple of times to knock the wall. There was no response and he decided to drown out the noise, using an old TV. There was no signal, however. First, second, third channel – it was useless. Boozer irritably pushed a button on the remote until he got to the pay cable channel, one of those with porn. Unlike the rest, paid porn didn’t disappoint, and Boozer drank vodka and watched as a hefty black guy fucked a cute Asian girl in the ass. Asian girl replaced striptease and went on lesbians, ending whose performances Boozer never saw - old small TV exploded in his face.

How long he lay on the floor was unknown, but then Boozer got up slowly. He perched on the seat and took out a splinter from left cheek - a piece of the TV screen, a fragment of a bottle, or something else. During his blackout the apartment had become even worse, but this time it wasn’t binge drinking that was the cause. It was because of the numerous bullets holes in the thin wall. In the hole closest to the floor there oozed dark thickened blood. It looked like the bastard neighbors’ movie was extremely realistic.

27. Number Nine

“Just who the fuck are you? And why do you think that we will listen your commands?”

Negotiations failed, I'm sure of it. The young bandits will not listen to me; I don’t have the authority. Most likely, in front of me is a regional branch of the gang that holding this part of the city. Yet I must try, diplomacy sometimes works too.

“Who am I? I am one of you. I changed your life this morning, I brought you the Hunger. And now - join me.”

“So, you're brought here this thing, don’t know the name? Well, thank you, and fuck out here or die, we will not obey your orders, and we will take as much blood as we want!”

They laughed at me. They were fun; in a good mood. All seven were covered with blood from head to toe, and it was hard to tell what color their clothes were this morning when they went out to sell drugs. They didn’t know that drugs and money would soon lose all meaning.

All had changed very rapidly, so most likely they were attacked by the infected from the first wave, or maybe some of our fighters used his air rifle.

Wounded fled to their homes and yards, and soon instead one infected we have five or ten new. Street thugs had not particularly afraid of the police, and then Hunger came and made them vampires, they lost all fears, and went on the hunt.

There was no one to stop them. The police were already ours, or were fighting with other infected, so that the boys and girls from the streets had fun in their own and other neighborhoods. Money and dope were left behind, now they wanted blood, literally. They took it without any limits, spreading infection like wildfire. Initially, while the police were still strong, we could profit from this situation, but now we needed to put an end to this; we were risking burning in this fire. But why should I be the one to extinguish this fire? Shielding my eyes with a hand against the bright sun, I made one last attempt.

“You will not survive without our leadership. Soon the army will come, and you will die under the tanks and air strikes. Submit to us.”

“Or what?”

I didn’t respond, it doesn’t make sense. Our snipers decided conflict for me by one precise round. Seven infected killed, we must move on. Amendment – six killed, one of the girls survived, scrubbing face from her girlfriend’s brains. I hit her in the knee and threw on the asphalt, take the gun, shoot. Bullet passes within an inch of her left ear, second bullet an inch from the right ear. She peed.

“If you want I will put the third right in the middle, do you agree? If not, get up slowly, without turning around!”

She slowly got up, and I heard her crying.

“From now on, you belong to us. You will live as we tell you, and you will give your lives when we say. If we say kill, you kill; if we tell you to spare somebody, you do just that; if we say die, then you will die. Do it all right and you'll live forever. Got that?”

“Ye-es.”

“Look at me.”

She slowly turned around, trying not to meet my eyes.

“You're one of us. Done.”

I pick up the AK-47 from the pavement, and showed her where to go. Around the corner was a whole group of newcomers waiting for us, armed with a variety of guns. Some have red plastic boxes full of Molotov cocktails. Here I gave her a machine gun and pulled out the city map.

“This important crossroads is blocked by the military; they have two cars and machine guns. Throw the infected at them as a shield, grab a crossroads or die. Forward!”

Left alone, I waited about a minute, until the shooting started on the crossroads, and then called the car. I needed a car, but it would dangerous to use - army helicopters were being ordered to destroy any unidentified vehicle. They fulfilled their orders unopposed; the enemies had absolute air superiority. So, we had to somehow distract them and the attack on the checkpoint was good for that.

I could see an old pizza car, which was perfect for me. Behind the wheel was a police woman with a fresh bandage on right hand. I had hit her with my air rifle an hour and a half ago.

“A helicopter flew to the checkpoint.”

“Good. Go through the alleys, and stick to the walls. Keep at twenty miles an hour and don’t stop!”

I gave the signal to the sniper team, who were tracking helicopters from attics, then sat in the passenger seat, take heavy army laptop and the pizza car started to move.

“Number Nine, Virginia waits.”

“Ok, I start my busines. Wait for the signal.”

At last, it's time for the real work to begin.