Vigil (6 page)

Chapter Thirteen

Command

Fallon Corp.

‘Oh,’ said Suzanne. ‘Oh.’ She motioned over her head. ‘Listen! Someone’s speaking!’

‘Are you recording?’

‘Yes. Shut up.’ She flicked a button and the voice came over the speakers through the security centre.

It was young girl’s voice.

‘I don’t know if anyone can hear me but if you can you have to listen to me,’ she said. ‘Vampires are watching us. I think they can’t hear me but I’m not sure, so I have to whisper. If you are what I think you are, you have…ears? You can hear better than they do. We come from a place in the east, near the mountains. It is underground. The vampires came and…made us into food. They are more clever than other vampires. I think they are here because they are hungry. There are lots of vampires. They told us to wait here. If you can hear me, don’t come out. They’re really quick. They’ll get you. That’s it. I’m going to say that all again in a minute. I feel pretty stupid but I’m really scared and I hope if there is someone there and that you’ll hear me and maybe think of something to save our lives, because I can’t think of anything and if I run they’ll just catch me and then they’ll make me into food again. I don’t want to be food.’

The girl spoke again, roughly the same thing.

‘Alain, keep listening, keep it to your station,’ said Jean. Alain nodded, and the voice cut out.

‘Suzanne, anything before that?’

‘No, just her saying ‘Is anyone there?’ over and over. I don’t think we missed anything.’

Jean was staring ahead. Marie felt for him. He was a good leader but he wasn’t hard enough.

‘Do we believe her?’

‘Why would she lie?’

‘Might be part of the trap.’

Samson shook his head. ‘Doesn’t make sense. She would have said “There are no vampires here,” but she didn’t. She told us what’s going on.’

‘How does she know there is someone listening?’ said Suzanne.

Marie laughed. ‘Because she’s smart. She knows what the turrets are. If she comes from a place like this, maybe she’s seen something similar.’

‘A place like this? Can it be?’ said Suzanne.

‘It could be. If one, why not another? Maybe something military
. Out in the mountains, there were probably no bombs. There must be plenty of places that didn’t get hit with bombs.’

‘Let’s stick to the situation at hand,’ said Jean.

‘If she really is from a place like this,’ said Samson, ‘Perhaps some military base, she probably knows a lot that could help us. She could be valuable, but it’s still too dangerous. I don’t think we should change anything.’

‘I think we have to change our plans. They’re not vampires, they’re not changed. We can’t leave them out there. They’ll be dead before dawn.’

Sam shook his head. ‘Don’t go soft, Jean. Doesn’t change anything. If we send a team out there at night and there are vampires, we’re just sending more to their deaths and letting them know where the entrance is. It would be suicide for all of us. It’s still only three deaths compared to many. Go in the morning. Protect them from here.’

‘You’re a cold bastard, Sam.’

‘But I’m still alive.’

‘He’s right, Jean,’ said Marie. ‘If we go out there, we’ll be letting them know we’re here. But there might be a way.’

‘I’ll listen to anything, but I’m still of a mind to risk it.’

‘Don’t be stupid, Jean,’ Marie said. Her words were as effective as a slap. ‘We need to get them in. But we need a diversion.’

Samson grinned. ‘I see where you’re going with this. It might work…’

Marie nodded. Samson was brave and smart. If he had just a little more heart, she thought he would make a better leader that Jean.

‘We burn the perimeter. Open up all around. Light the night. Blind them.’

Jean shook his head. ‘They can bear fire light.’

‘But explosions are brighter than a fire. We only need minutes to get them and bring them in. Fire off some rockets. Three points of cover from each turret and fire all around…we could do it.

‘Come on, Jean. While the night’s still dark. Call the team.’

Jean bowed his head for a minute and the room was silent.

When he looked up he was pale.

‘God help me.’ He picked up the intercom and called Kappa.

*

Chapter Fourteen

Entrance

Fallon Corp.

‘Jean, you reading me?’

Kappa pressed the throat mike closer to his throat. The mike didn’t work well underground.

‘Clear, Kappa. They’re watching. We don’t know what to expect, but we think this is a new breed. Smarter, working together. Be careful. Proceed with extreme caution.’

‘Got it.’

‘One minute. Counting down. Out.’

Kappa nodded to his team. ‘Weapons ready.’

Six men in all. Kappa was the last of Fallon Corps’ security force. The rest had died in the last few years, as the vampires had grown stronger and smarter. This team was just as good – if not better. They had been fighting vampires since the fall. Those too weak to fight had fallen in battle already. The survivors learned how to fight the hard way. They had fought vampires in the streets with nothing but civilian weapons. They had only had minimal training in military tactics, but what they lacked in finesse they made up for in guts.

Each man wore black flak jackets, black combat trousers.
They were armed with automatic pistols on the right and a silver coated dagger on the left. The dagger was a last resort. If a vampire got close enough for it to be any use, chances were you’d go down with the vampire. All were armed with semi-automatic machine guns with net guns on their backs. Two of his team had flame throwers.

There was one addition that wasn’t required, but somewhere along the line it had become a superstition among Kappa’s men – silver crosses under their vests. They seemed to believe wearing silver would stop them from turning. Thankfully their theory hadn’t been tested yet.

Jean began the countdown in Kappa’s ear. Each man would be hearing the same thing.

‘Ten…nine…’

Kappa took the handle to the ramp. A bolted door, six feet thick, protected the complex. The bombing hadn’t made a dent.

The turrets opened fire. Kappa couldn’t hear the explosions from below, but he could feel the tremors under his feet.

‘Four…’

Kappa pulled the handle out and turned it. There were no locks on the door. It could only be opened from inside.

‘Two…’

The door opened inward.

All but one of the team charged out into a night that was alive with fire and thunderous explosions.

They ran in standard formation, two men on each wing, Kappa on point. One hundred yards through the burning night to the three survivors standing in the open. They didn’t move even though the air hummed with chain gun fire and rockets that thumped into cars and buildings. Kappa marvelled at their composure. But then perhaps it was just terror.

The team ran through the corridor of fire.

‘Sal, to the rear!’ he shouted over the roar of fire and explosions. Sal dropped back and dropped to one knee, scanning the night. They had one advantage over the vampires – they could see. The vampires should be blinded by the flashes of explosion.

The survivors were shivering despite the heat of the explosions and the ring of fire.

As soon as they were in range he gave the order.

‘Fire!’

The three men on his flanks planted their feet as Kappa dropped back and covered them.

In unison three nets spread and fell over each of the survivors.

‘Go!’ shouted the commander. His men each took one survivor and began dragging them roughly over the earth, onto the broken road, toward the waiting entrance.

Sal took up the rear guard again as the men strained against the weight of their captives and pulled them into the entrance.

Kappa was the last in. Philipe twisted, then pushed the handle in and the door shut.

Everyone was panting from the exertion, even Philipe who had been charged with guarding the door. They looked down at their captives.

Kappa turned them over and examined them. He wouldn’t talk to them until they were cleared from solitary. He’d learned his lesson years ago. Talking to the infected only made killing them harder.

The girl smiled at him and he smiled back before he could stop himself.

He turned the woman over. She was dead weight. Strapped to her back was a hand held radio.

It was turned on.

He stared at it for a moment, puzzled.

‘Oh, fuck.’

‘What is it?’

Kappa slid down against the wall, staring at the woman. ‘No signal underground. Jesus. Crap.’

‘I don’t get it, Boss,’ said Tear.

‘It’s an S.V.317 walkie-talkie. Swiss manufactured. Used by their Army before the fall. It was a favourite among specialist because they never had to leave a man behind. They would always know where he was as long as the unit was intact. Pretty old tech, but they used it for about fifteen years until subdermal implants became the standard. Not as reliable as this thing though. Tough as hell. Still working after all these years.’

‘So they can hear us?’

‘No, Tear. The problem with the S.V.317 was that it didn’t work underground. The problem for us is that its last location is marked on a satellite uplink to the controller’s system when it goes down. We can only assume it’s still functional.’

‘Fuck.’

‘Exactly. We’ve just been had by vampires.’

*

Chapter Fifteen

Fallon Corp.

Level 4 Quarters/Level 13

Marie was woken by a vivid nightmare. She was strapped to a bed and a vampire leaned over her, pushing a knife into her heart. She tried to push it away but in the dream her arms had no strength. She tried to cry out but she couldn’t form the words. He leaned down and began lapping at the wound as her strength failed.

She woke with a scream on her lips. She was covered in sweat. Her sh
eets were wringing wet. At first she thought it was blood, but the lights clicked on with her voice command and pushed the nightmare away.

After a shower and a change of clothes she walked down level 4’s hallway, took the elevator down to level 13. It was
7.00am. She’d slept two hours.

She nodded to Frank, who had taken her place on watch.

‘I’ll take it from here.’

‘I’ve got two hours to go.’

‘I’ll take it.’

Frank nodded, relieved. Nobody wanted to kill one of their own, even if it was necessary. Frank was a good man. He knew as well as she did that if Tom turned he would be dissected and studied. Even when a human was cured, they didn’t stop being a man.

How long was it until mankind became as cruel as the cured?

‘I hope you don’t have to…you know. I liked Tom.’

‘He’s not dead yet,’ she said in a voice harsher than she had intended.

When Frank left she took up her position and watched Tom through the glass. He was in the same position as before, curled on the floor. His trousers had dried, and for that she was thankful. At least if he came out of this he could retain some dignity.

Forty minutes to go.

Her heart was beating too fast. She tried to calm herself with some breathing exercises while she waited. She checked her weapon over and over, paced the room, always returning to the window to watch Tom.

With five minutes to go the Samson came into the holding cells, carrying a bottle.

‘Shit,’ she said under her breath. She knew what was in the bottle. A powerful sedative, effective on vampires. He knew what she intended. He’d second guessed her. She couldn’t shoot Tom with Samson watching.

‘Sam,’ she said.

‘Marie. How is he?’

‘He’s going to be fine. I’m not so sure about you.’ She met Samson’s eyes. He didn’t look away.

‘I’m looking out for our best interests, Marie.’

‘Bullshit. You just want another experiment.’

‘If he turns we can’t afford to waste him.’

‘Fuck off, Sam.’

‘You’d like that, wouldn’t you? A quick shot to the head, Uncle Tom checks out. You haven’t got the stomach for this, Marie. Why don’t you go and get a cup of coffee or something.’

‘No. I’m staying.’

Sam checked his watch.

‘Shall we?’

Marie swore. She pulled the door open though, and made sure she was in the room before Samson. Her heart was pounding again. She was out of breath. Tom opened his eyes and looked up at her. Winked.

‘I’m bored,’ he said with a smile. ‘Disappointed, Sam?’

Samson ignored the jibe. He knelt by Tom’s head and examined his eyes. Then he got up and turned the lights to the room off by the door. There was still light from the hall, but enough to see Tom’s pupils. They widened in the dark, rather than narrowing from the light outside.

‘Now you’re just being an arsehole,’ said Tom wearily.

‘Set him free, Sam,’ said Marie.

Samson smiled without warmth and released the netting.

‘I’m glad you’re alright,’ said Marie. ‘I’m glad I didn’t have to kill you.’

‘So am I. Now, would somebody fill me in on what’s happening?’

Samson and Marie shared a look. Tom didn’t like what he saw in their eyes.

They were worried.

Whatever it was, if it worried Sam and Marie, they were in some serious trouble.

‘Go and take a shower,’ Marie told him, ignoring his question. ‘We’re meeting in the dining hall at thirteen hundred. We’ll catch up then.’

Tom stretched, holding onto Marie for support. His legs were killing him. He was too old to spend the night sleeping on cold floors. Too old for lots of things.

Too old to go on living? He wondered. He’d had all night to think about it. The only conclusion he’d come to was that he wasn’t sure. But he knew one thing for a fact, and it had nothing to do with ego. These people still weren’t ready to face the future without him. He’d been telling himself the same thing every morning for more years than he could remember. Today was no different. Dying could wait another day.

*