Z Day +32

  JAMES

  “What is it?” Shae looked me in the eye. It was one of the rare moments when we were both off-duty.

  “I’m not sure,” I said, scratching my chin. My beard was growing in, and I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to shave it. Having open wounds when you could be hand-to-hand with a zombie made me think twice.

  “Still worried about the plan?” she asked.

  “Of course. But…” I trailed off.

  “But?”

  “There’s something that could help us,” I sighed.

  “What?”

  “I don’t know if I should tell you.” I locked eyes with her.

  “Because of Pagoda?” It was more of a statement than a question.

  I threw my hands up in disgust. “God, I hate this.”

  Her cool hand on my arm slowed my outburst of anger. While the anger had been increasing lately, her touch seemed to settle me down. I looked down at her hand and thought back to when I used to jump when someone touched me.

  “Is it something you can do on your own?” she said.

  I chewed my lip, “I doubt it.”

  “Then how can I help?”

  “Well, I need to get to San Antonio,” I said.

  “Do you think you could start the serum again?” Shae asked.

  “I honestly don’t know,” I frowned.

  “Well, what we’re doing now isn’t making things better, just delaying the inevitable.” The look on her face told me that it pained her to say it.

  Things between us were in a strange place. I could tell she had feelings for me. I wasn’t sure to what extent because she intentionally blocked that part of herself from me when we bloodtouched.

  We sometimes slept together, but it was never sexual in nature. Anytime things seemed to be heading that way, she would pull back. I could tell she was interested but wouldn’t let herself give in to the moment for some reason. While frustrating, I never pressed, no matter how much I wanted to.

  “No,” I sighed. “I wasn’t thinking of that. There’s something that would give us an edge that we desperately need.”

  “Where is it?” Shae asked.

  “BAMC. Brooke Army Medical Center,” I said.

  “I thought you were supposed to meet a courier at Randolph?” Shae said.

  “I was supposed to get the serum at Randolph. What I’m thinking of is so secure, even if the base fell—” I paused. I called all military installations bases out of habit, but BAMC was Army. “Even if the post fell, this stuff is kept on such lockdown no one could get in to loot it. It’s gotta still be there.”

  BAMC was one of the five emergency storage points in the US for all aspects of the Phobos Project, my super-soldier project. All the storage points were housed in hospitals at major military hubs. San Antonio was a natural choice, having so much military support there. Had BAMC been my home base, I could have picked up my serum on the same day. Unfortunately, I was based elsewhere.

  “Did you want to try Randolph first?” Shae asked.

  “No. BAMC is our best bet all the way around,” I said. “Now, the only question is how would I get there and back quick enough.”

  “Quick enough?” she asked.

  “I don’t want to leave our group undefended,” I started.

  “We’ve been over this,” Shae said, frowning. “You’re not that essential, you know. We’ve left them on their own before.” She scowled at me.

  I gave her a flat stare, and she held up her hands.

  “I can stay behind while you—” she started before I cut her off.

  “No!” The word tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop it. “There’s no way I’m letting you out of my sight again.” While things between us were not close to the way they were, I was still surprised with the force with which I said that. So was she.

  Shae looked at me calmly for a minute, her head slightly tilted. She looked like she was considering her words carefully.

  “Sorry,” I managed before she could talk.

  “It’s…alright,” she said quietly.

  “I don’t…” I tried, my throat suddenly going dry. “I can’t risk losing you again. I don’t think I would survive this time.” I stared at my hands for a long moment before looking up.

  It was a long time before she spoke. “James, I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what happened with us. I’ve seen your memories of us and feel they’re the absolute truth through your eyes. But it’s all a fog to me. I wish I knew, if for nothing else than to put both our minds to rest,” she sighed. “I am fond of you; I know that. You've grown on me in the time we’ve been together since Z Day.”

  “Like a fungus?” I said.

  “Yes, a fungus…and despite some of the things that come out of your mouth, somehow, I still find myself attracted to you.”

  I smiled a little sheepishly. “Yeah, I kinda figured that one out.”

  “But…there’s nothing more. At least, not as much as you have for me.” She took a deep breath and blew it out. “Regardless, I’m not going anywhere till I get this figured out.”

  Her words stung. I’d felt we’d been getting closer these past few weeks. From what she was telling me now, I was wrong. A pregnant pause filled the room.

  “So,” she said finally, “what are we going to do?”

  After more discussion, we decided to leave at dusk the following day. With Shae’s sun protection gone, we were forced to travel by night. We still had her bike and filled her tank from our reserves. Usually, a trip to San Antonio would take about an hour. We weren’t sure how long this trip would take but planned on having to stay over until the following night.

  I set up a watch schedule for the rest to follow and contingency plans if they had to bug out. If things got bad, we had meet-up points established.

  Miria had practically pushed me out the door when she got sick of all my contingency plans. She complained loudly about what all the training had been for if I was never going to leave.

  I-35 was surprisingly easy to navigate. Shae was driving while I was keeping an eye out. Shae had a single helmet that I was currently wearing. When I protested, she pushed it on my head with enough force that I saw stars.

  All the military roadblocks were either gone or deserted. At the same time, there were a lot of dead cars on the road in either direction. The wide, four-lane Texas highways gave plenty of room to maneuver.

  I only saw a few shambling figures, nothing like the giant hordes you read about in books. We didn’t meet a single breathing person.

  “What is wrong with you?” I yelled into her ear.

  “What?” she didn’t take her eyes off the road. She was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses to keep the bugs out of her eyes. I had no idea how she could see anything in all this darkness.

  “You’re doing like 150!” I yelled.

  “Relax, we’re barely at 80,” she continued, speeding up a bit as she weaved around several cars. She must have missed being unable to open her bike up as she continued to flirt with disaster.

  As I clung that much tighter to her, my head pressing into her back, I swear I could hear her grinning at me. It was true; I didn’t have much experience with motorcycles. The closest I had was when Trent let me borrow his scooter to run an errand across town. But that thing topped out at like 88km/h. Downhill. With a tailwind.

  “What’s the deal with this bike anyway?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, what’s the deal? You refused to leave it behind both times we’ve bugged out. It obviously means something to you,” I said.

  “It was a concept bike at the Tokyo Motor Show several years back. I thought it looked amazing, so I pulled some strings and had it shipped over. They still haven’t started producing them, and I guess they won’t now. That makes it one of a kind.” This time, she glanced back at me for a split second. “Besides, it’s cool,” she smiled.

  In no time, we were in San Antonio, where the roads became more of a mess. The divided highways lost their spacious shoulder and medians. What little space there was was choked with broken-down cars. We didn’t see anyone else, but I did note there were still some streetlights working on the highway and in some neighborhoods.

  As we crawled down the highway, weaving in and out of traffic, I saw more moving figures. Most were off the road out in the neighborhoods. They were all attracted to the sound of the bike. We kept moving to stay ahead of the growing trail of shambling bodies.

  An overpass brought us high enough in the air to see where downtown should have been. The skyline was dark. We could see a handful of lights but couldn’t determine if they were electric or fires.

  The exit ramp was choked with cars, forcing us off-road to get off the highway. The last few kilometers to the post was a much smaller road clogged with cars. You could see the hospital from the road. It was a monstrous building built to replace the old and crumbling hospital on the central part of the post.

  I tapped Shae on the shoulder, “Stop here.”

  She glanced around and slowed to a stop.

  “If we hop the fence here, we can jog the rest of the way,” I said.

  “Guards?” she asked.

  I glanced again at the dark and silent building.

  “There’s not going to be any. This place is dead.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” she said.

  We stashed the bike in a nearby ditch and covered it. We quickly scaled the fence, careful of the barbed wire at the top. Had it been razor wire, it would have been a bit more of a challenge, but the old barbed wire was easy to avoid.

  The hospital was about a kilometer off the highway. We went through the grassy field and up to the small concrete walls surrounding the building. I pulled her up short as we crouched behind the wall. Tapping my ear, we paused and listened.

  Shae had admitted to me she’d never been the military type. She’d never gone for all the tactics, special weapons, and all that. The only reason she knew guns now was because Pagoda had required it. Most of her life had been spent working the halls of the vampire elites. She knew enough about intrigue and espionage, but when it came to assaulting a building, she acquiesced to my experience.

  Not finding any large rocks around us, I motioned her to the stone wall. She reached over and singlehandedly ripped a large chunk from the wall before throwing it quite an impressive way. It practically exploded when it hit the pavement with a most satisfying sound. Shae looked at me and winked, dusting her hands off.

  We waited. Nothing moved. When the crickets came back to life, I decided we were as ready as we would be. We pulled the machetes from our waists and headed towards a promising-looking window. While that window was shattered inwardly, I noted the one next to it was unlocked. We slipped into what looked like an administrative office.

  Pointing at the glass, I side-stepped it and moved towards the door to the inner hallway. At the door, an icy hand made me freeze. I looked back at Shae, who was pointing at an emergency exit map on the wall. I nodded and quickly took a look.

  I’d never been in this hospital. I’d visited the old one back when I was escorting some burned airmen back from overseas. They’d been treated as much as they could at Landstuhl, Germany, before being moved here for long-term treatment. I had no idea where the secured facility I was looking for was, but I had a general idea of where it should be.

  Looking at the map, I identified where we were and noted several possible locations. We silently stepped out into the hall. We moved down the center of the hallway slowly. Shae was walking backward, watching the other end of the hall. She could move quieter backward than I could forward.

  We had practiced a bit for this part. I knew we’d be in close quarters and had to work together as silently as possible. I taught her a few hand and arm signals, but nothing complicated. I believed in the K.I.S.S. doctrine.

  Normally, I’d be used to someone hanging onto my belt to stay in formation, but Shae’s senses allowed her to know exactly where I was without touching me.

  She did grab my belt once. She’d heard something and touched her ear when I glanced at her. She didn’t take her eyes off where she’d heard it from, just like I’d taught her. My ears hadn’t caught whatever she’d heard, and after a moment, she patted my leg, and we continued moving.

  The hallways weren’t cluttered, which was surprising. If they had evacuated, it was the neatest one I’d ever seen. So far, no bodies. I wasn’t sure if I was happy about that or not.

  We rounded a corner, and the smell hit me, causing me to hesitate. At my hesitance, Shae span around to stand beside me.

  The hallway was smeared with gore. There were bits of blackened things littering the floor and the counter of the check-in desk. The walls were riddled with bullet holes. There was no pattern to the violence, just pure panic fire. Still, there were no bodies.

  We paused, listening again, but nothing stirred. I reached down and picked up a discarded PR-24 from the ground. It was a policeman’s baton with a handle that jutted out 90 degrees from the stick. It was laminated with a resin that was designed to not break. I tucked it into my belt and looked around one last time.

  Steeling myself, we moved through the gore and towards the back, where a set of double doors barred our way with “restricted access” and “employees only” signs.

  This time, I heard something. Maybe clothes brushing against something? I froze, reaching back to touch Shae and then my ear. I pointed down a side hall on our left. The sound didn’t repeat, and after a minute, I pushed on the door; it didn’t move.

  A glance told me it was a hydraulic door with an RFID pad on the right. Had I a proper security card and power, I could touch the pad, and the doors would open for me. Right now, I had neither. I started to reach up to test the seam when a cold arm pressed me hard against the door.

  By the time I turned around, it was over. From what I could surmise, the shambler I’d heard earlier had finally emerged from the shadows. Shae had seen it and pushed me out of the way. From the shape of the crumbled corpse on the floor, she’d smashed it with a backhand that had sent it crashing into the wall and crushing its skull.

  I reached up and took the offered hand. She pulled me to my feet effortlessly. “So much for the machete,” I whispered.

  She shrugged and reached for the closed door. She dug her fingers into the door with one hand and pulled it open with a “pop” of the lock.

  I nodded in respect, and she grinned at me. We paused, listening to see if our noise had attracted any attention.

  I glanced at the corpse. It was in an Army uniform with a leather MP armband. I’d found where the baton had come from. I quickly sliced his belt off and removed the baton’s carrying ring before stuffing it into my pocket. I took a shallow breath through my mouth, trying not to smell the hallway and moved on.

  The hall beyond was filled with doors on either side. A nurse station was halfway down the hall on the left. We made our way slowly towards it, once again in our back-to-back formation.

  We both froze, glancing at the ceiling as we heard something moving on the floor above us. I found I’d been holding my breath and slowly let it out as we moved forward again. Each of the rooms around us had their doors closed.

  I saw a shadow move inside one room just before a face smashed against the small window. The sound was deafening in the quiet hallway. The pale face smeared black gore across the window as a loud thumping began, its hand beating against the door.

  Suddenly, the pounding began on the other side of the hall as another face appeared. The doors opened into the individual rooms, so the wretched creatures were trapped inside. We'd have been in trouble if they’d had enough intelligence to pull on the door.

  “Move,” I muttered, and we were in motion. Noise discipline was gone now as our footfalls were easily covered by the chorus of door pounding that continued to grow.

  We reached the nurse’s station and turned left into the small dark hall that cut through to the other side of the ward. Halfway down the hall was a dark stairwell.

  Shae took the lead; her night vision was vastly superior to mine. While I could barely make out the stairs, she could see as if it were day. We dropped down two levels and came to another door.

  We paused, listening to the thumping still going on upstairs. A faint red glow came from the other side of the door.

  “Good sign,” I whispered. At her questioning look I continued, “The only level with emergency lighting still on.”

  She nodded, pulled the door open and slipped inside. The hallway was dimly lit by red emergency lights running the length of the walls, one every five meters or so. This hallway had no doors.

  As we followed the hallway, it turned left, revealing another hallway with no doors. We walked to the end of it and turned left again. This time, a door was on the left side of the wall. The wall looked like it continued to make another left, forming a large square around a center room.

  As we approached, a blue-white panel lit up next to the smooth metal door. I placed my hand on it, feeling the stinging sensation as the computer sampled my hand. A moment later, another screen lit up with a tiny digital keypad.

  “Well, power here seems to be working,” she said in a hushed voice.

  “Internal power source probably. This is the right place.” I typed in my system password, and the panel turned green.

  The door didn’t move.

  “Uh...” I placed my hand on the scanner to start the whole process over again, but nothing happened.

  “I don’t understand. That worked. I got the green light and everything. It should have opened,” I frowned.

  A moment later, a speaker clicked on, and a hushed voice said, “Oh-my-God. The door didn’t work. What could possibly be wrong?” a familiar voice taunted.

  “Travis?” I couldn’t help myself, my mouth hung open in surprise.

  “Oh, I don’t know, maybe the whole zombie apocalypse?” the voice continued as if he hadn’t heard me.

  “How the hell did you make it out of Taynon Provence?” I asked.

  “And maybe someone smart might have thought, “Oh, maybe I should go stock up on what I need to stay alive?” the voice continued.

  I shook my head. It was definitely Travis. The same voice and the same annoying mannerisms.

  “Travis shut up and let me in the damned door,” I said.

  “Oh wait, I know. First, let me grab some bimbo to bring down here, and we can spend the whole apocalypse in my secret lair.”

  “Bimbo?” Shae glared at the speaker.

  “She’s good, Travis. Just let us in,” I said.

  “Oh, wait. The bimbo had this snarky VD problem, and now I can’t stop itching,” Travis said.

  “James?” Shae was losing her composure, something I hadn’t seen before.

  “It’s alright, relax.” I turned back to the console, “Seriously, Travis, we’re all secure.”

  “Fine,” his voice sounded dejected. “But on your head be it.” The door slid open to reveal another smaller room with a second door.

  “Airlock?” Shae asked, stepping into the small room.

  I nodded as the first door closed behind us.

  “In all seriousness though, Sarge, why are you bringing a vampire into the clubhouse?” Travis was on the intercom again.

  I sighed. Travis was running through duress procedures, seeing if I was in trouble by giving me time to pass a duress word to him in a normal conversation.

  “Remember Shae?” I sighed.

  “The crazy bitch you used to go on about who refused to marry you and ran off without a word?”

  I motioned toward Shae and said, “Ta-da.”

  After a pregnant pause, “You want me to gas her now or later?”

  Shae growled under her breath; I’d never heard her do that before.

  “Play nice,” I said to both of them.

  A loud sigh came across the speaker, “Fine.” The inner door popped open.

  Inside was a small laboratory. Metal-plated walls surrounded metal-grated floors. Several sterilized metal tables sat in the room, each with different pieces of equipment on them. A small inner chamber was off to the back left corner, housing an operating bed under dark blue lights that looked slept in. A glass wall on the right housed a bank of computer screens, which a tall man stood behind. He was a big man, muscular, not fat. His hair was cut short, almost to the scalp. He wore a tank top with a military logo that showed off his vast shoulders. He also wore a guarded expression.

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  “Travis!” I smiled. He and I had been on several operations together and had gotten along rather well. I was amazed to see a familiar face. “Seriously, what are you doing here? Last I heard, you were on convo in Qatar.”

  Travis nodded, “Yeah, the convo didn’t go so well, and they shipped me back here for more rehab.” He glanced at Shae. “What’s the deal?”

  “Long story,” I said.

  “Well, I got enough MREs for about four years. That long enough?” Travis said.

  I smiled, “Yeah, that should do it. But first, what’s OUR status?”

  “We’re done. The entire chain of command went silent. I don’t know if we lost them or if they are too busy with this whole mess to worry about us right now. So, it looks like we’re on our own,” Travis said.

  I exhaled sharply, “Good.”

  “Good?” Travis asked.

  “I was worried there would be complications,” I said.

  “Complica...what do you mean?” He looked down at the monitors a moment later. “Holy shit! What happened to you?”

  “Another long story,” I said.

  “Well, you better start talking 'cause I’m about five seconds away from flushing the both of you,” Travis said.

  Shae tensed.

  “Now, everyone calm down.” I put my hand on her shoulder, feeling her muscles coiled and trembling with fury. “Short story, ran out of juice, had to improvise. I’m still alive.”

  Travis seemed to relax a little, “And the long story?”

  I sighed and looked around. “Don’t happen to have any chairs in here, do you?”

  An hour later, I was finishing up, “And that brings us to the here and now.”

  He watched the two of us for a minute before seeming to come to a decision. He walked to the door to his control room and pressed a button, the door sliding open. He crossed the room and held out his hand to me. I looked up at his two meter frame and took his hand carefully, unsure what was happening.

  “OK, still human, I guess,” Travis said.

  Turning to Shae, he held out his hand, “I apologize for all the—” was as far as he got before her hand slapped him hard across the jaw.

  “Bimbo?” she snapped.

  Travis stretched his jaw, his eyes blinking furiously as he rubbed his jaw gingerly. “OK, I guess I deserved that. Like I said, I apologize for all that went on before. I had to be sure James wasn’t being held hostage.”

  “So,” I started, trying to refocus the group. “How long have you been holed up here?”

  “About a year now. The first eight months were rehab. The last four have been minding the store since the last courier went MIA,” Travis said.

  “Missing? What’s that about?” I asked.

  “Don’t know. Supposedly, he went out and never came back. They said since I was already here, I might as well hang out until they could get someone else. Then all this happened. I’ve been hiding out down here ever since,” Travis shrugged.

  “The entire time?” Shae asked.

  “Mostly. I’ll occasionally go up to the roof for a breath of fresh air. They haven’t been able to get into the stairwells yet, so that’s been my safest route. City’s gone to shit. Not that it was that great to begin with,” Travis said.

  “So, where is everyone? You’ve still got the feeds?” I asked.

  He nodded, turning and motioning for us to follow him. The control booth had more screens than you could see from the outside. Most were internal security cameras, some were SIPR and NIPR connections, and a couple were civilian broadcast and satellite feeds.

  “Not a lot getting through nowadays. Governments gone to ground in Colorado. Seems to be mostly intact but not doing much. Cities have mostly cleared out, people running in any which direction. Some shelters and protected zones are still holding, but not a lot. The folks left are mainly holed up in their homes, if you can believe that. No services, no water, heat, etc., but they’re still hiding in their attics and basements. Sadly, most of them aren’t going to last much longer. Food and basic needs just can’t be met,” Travis shook his head.

  “The military?” I asked.

  “The ones still on duty aren’t doing too bad. There was a huge desertion rate when they realized what was going on. The Navy is one of the few still intact. That’s mainly because they are isolated on the ships.”

  “That won’t last,” Shae said.

  We turned and looked at Shae.

  “I know something about what happens when you try and hold a ship’s crew hostage. It doesn’t end well,” she shook her head.

  “What about the rest of the world?” I asked.

  “Well, it’s global. I never thought the sci-fi geeks would get it right, but they called it. Once this thing got out, it spread like wildfire. There’s not one unaffected country that I know of. Course, I’ve been mainly focused on us and the few bases where we still have active troops overseas. I feel sorry for those guys. They’ll probably never see home again,” Travis said.

  “I didn’t see a lot of shamblers on the way down here. What’s that about?” I said.

  “Shamblers?” he asked.

  “Sounds better than zombie. I still can’t get used to saying the word aloud. So, shamblers,” I said.

  “Right. Shamblers it is. Although, the world is calling them zombies. The US military calls them Zeke, and the US of A is calling them the living impaired,” Travis grinned.

  I chuckled at that one.

  “So, what can I do for you and your vampiric girlfriend? Are y’all together now? All lovey-dovey again?” Travis said.

  “Shae, can you give us a minute?” I asked, nodding outside the control room.

  “Sure, just don’t let him ‘flush’ me,” she made air quotes and headed for the door, apparently relieved to get away from Travis. I had a feeling they weren’t going to end up bosom buddies.

  Once she left the room, I asked, “How sealed is this room?”

  “I can make it airtight. And shade the glass,” Travis said.

  “Do it,” I said.

  He touched a few buttons, and my ears popped; the outside room where Shae was tinted slightly green. “What’s this about?” Travis asked.

  “There’s a nest in Austin; I want to take over its compound,” I said.

  “Sounds simple enough.” He turned to the computer, “Do you have a name?”

  “Pagoda.” I saw him flinch. “You know the name?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” he sighed, tapping several keys on his console. A satellite image of Austin appeared. It wasn’t real-time, as the image was in the daylight. He zoomed into the Barton Creek Greenbelt with a few more keystrokes. The digital outlines of multiple buildings appeared over the heavily wooded area. It was Pagoda’s compound.

  “Looks like a fortress,” I murmured.

  “Close. It was a mission a long time ago. Reinforced walls, multiple buildings, sentries and possibly some underground tunnels, but our imagery isn’t good enough with all that clutter.”

  I nodded, looking at the overlay. “Forces?” I asked.

  “Pre-Z Day, you were looking at forty residents,” Travis said.

  “Forty? How’d he maintain that many?” I said.

  Travis clicked through several files before settling on one. “He was smart, never used locals. He had people trucked in under the disguise of a drug-induced rave party. Like literally, he would have people put into the back of a giant U-Haul, bring them in, tap them and then send the bodies back with blanked memories. But someone got a little too excited and ate someone instead of just tapping them. Needless to say, he hasn’t been the party type since,” Travis said.

  “What about now, any intel?” I said.

  “Not a whole lot.” He ran through several more sets of photos. “We don’t have the Intel imagers we used to, so we’re pretty spotty. If I had to guess, maybe four guards on the walls at any given time, two more mobile. I don’t know about residents,” Travis said.

  He adjusted the map to a section near the rear of the compound. “But this is interesting,” he circled a small area. “This building back here has seen a lot of activity the past few weeks, more than the main building.”

  “What do you think it is?” I asked.

  “Computer doesn’t understand it, just tags it as increased foot traffic. But, if I had to guess, I’d say he’s stocking the larder,” Travis said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Remember that chump in Turkey that we ran into? He had that whole medieval castle ruin on top of a mountain,” Travis said.

  “Yeah, the locals used to take tourists up there for a couple of bucks. Heard one fell off the cliff once,” I said.

  “That’s the one. The guy didn’t live in the ruin; he just liked it and kept it for whatever reason. Anyway, he had his compound in the town, part of an old Roman fort,” Travis said.

  “Oh yeah, I remember now. When you were up on the mountain, you could look down and see where the lines of the old Roman city were. What about it?” I asked.

  “He didn’t like going out to eat, so he had his own private food source. He had several live-in tap boys that stayed on his property. They had their own houses on the compound and everything they could want, so they never had to leave. They lived fat and happy, only having to give it up occasionally,” Travis said.

  “You think that’s what Pagoda’s done here?” I asked.

  “That’s my guess. It makes sense.”

  “But, who would want to live that way?” And then I answered my own question, *We would.* With the current state of things, giving up a pint of blood every six weeks or so was a fair trade to be kept safe and fed. I had a couple of troubling thoughts I filed away for further contemplation.

  “What sort of strike force do you plan on using?” Travis asked.

  I frowned. “Don’t ask. That’s why I’m here.”

  He looked at me, “Why ARE you here? You apparently don’t need the juice anymore; how’s that working out for you?”

  I made a sour face, “Not good.”

  He sighed. “I don’t know if you could go back on the drugs. From what the computers tell me about your condition, you’d probably have to start the treatments from scratch. No one has ever done that before.”

  “No one has ever survived doing that,” I corrected. “Anyway, I need to try and level the playing field or, if nothing else, give my people a fighting chance against that compound. I need Jewels.”

  Travis frowned.

  “Not a pallet or anything, maybe enough for a dozen people,” I said.

  “You think that’s going to be enough? From looking at this previous data, you’d need a hell of a lot more to take that place out,” Travis said.

  “Let me worry about it. I need to know what you can give me,” I said.

  Travis spun around in his chair and stood up. “Well, you don’t have to worry about quantity.”

  He punched in a series of buttons, and a door slid up from the back of the room I hadn’t seen before. Lights started flicking on in the room behind. It was a dry room, dehumidifiers working overtime to keep out the San Antonio humidity. Three rows of pallets, at least eight deep, were in the middle of the room, while shelves were piled high with crates all the way around the edges.

  I whistled.

  “Yeah, so what’s her story?” Travis asked, pointing a thumb at Shae.

  “Bloodbound to Pagoda,” I said, still looking at the ammo pallets.

  “Ouch,” Travis hissed.

  “Yeah. Any idea about his movements? Would be nice to know when he was coming home,” I said.

  “I didn’t see anything in the notes, but again, Intel is not what it used to be. Our field operatives are a little bit sidetracked at the moment,” Travis said.

  “I’ll say. Hopefully, they’re not slouching and moaning.” I thought a moment, “Any other Phobos operators in the area?”

  “Not in Texas,” Travis shook his head.

  “Didn’t think so. Any chance you might...”

  “Sorry, boss, I’ve got to hold down the fort,” Travis said.

  It was a long shot, but I had to ask. “No biggie,” I shrugged.

  “So, what can I do you for?” Travis turned back to the storage room.

  I sighed, pulling up the mental inventory I’d prepared.

  He read the look on my face. “You need me to get a cart?”

  “No. Like I said, I don’t need a lot. Besides, we came down on a bike, so what we can take back is pretty limited.”

  “Hmmmm...” Travis rumbled.

  “Hmm?” I asked.

  “Hmmmm. How bad was the highway on the way down?” Travis stroked his chin.

  “Pretty bad car-wise, not so much Shambler-wise. Why?” I asked.

  “I might be able to get you a bit more cargo room.” He turned back to the monitors and flipped through screens outside until he found what he was looking for.

  “Shit,” I complained.

  “What? Not the right color?” Travis asked.

  “Oh, no, not that. I didn’t realize the sun was already coming up.”

  “So?” Travis said.

  “It means we’re stuck here.” I threw a thumb at Shae and could tell he understood right away.

  “Got it. Well, I can clear off some space if you two don’t mind shacking up.”

  I thought about it. “I’d probably better ask.”

  “I thought y’all were close,” Travis looked at me curiously.

  “We were, once upon a horror story. Now it’s turned tragedy,” I sighed.

  “Sorry man,” Travis said. “Despite what the books and movies would have you believe, these sorts of things don’t normally work out.”

  “No worries.” I turned back to the motorcycle with a sidecar on the screen, “Do you know if it’s good to go?”

  “Yes, sir. Used it a few times myself when I got sick of MREs and wanted something different,” Travis nodded at the bike.

  “There’s only so much Jalapeno Cheese Spread one can eat,” I grinned.

  “Amen, brother. Listen, why don’t you two bed down? You look beat to shit. I was just starting my shift anyway. Give me your list, I’ll pull what you need, and I’ll make sure she can’t identify it. I’ll wake you up an hour before nightfall. Sound good?” Travis said.

  “You’re a lifesaver, Travis,” I patted him on his boulder-like shoulder.

  “Are you kidding? You’re the first real people I’ve talked to in weeks. I need to try and keep the interesting ones alive,” Travis said.

  “And not because I owe you $50?” I asked.

  “Well, there is that,” his grin was huge. “Now go on, take the operating room. If you want, the windows will tint just like these. There’s an emergency shower over there; it’s cold but clean. I’ll get to work in the back room. Let me know if you need anything else.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Thanks again, Travis,” I said.

  “Don’t mention it. Your girl’s got quite the arm,” Travis touched his jaw again.

  “Yeah, sorry about that,” I said.

  He shook his head, “It all comes around.”

  I returned to the main room, where Shae was investigating some of the more unusual-looking equipment.

  “Is this a vampire-killing lab?” She asked.

  “Something like that; I’d be careful what you touch,” I said as she turned to look at me. “Long story. But first, Travis’s going to prep what I need. It’s already daylight, so we’re stuck here for the duration. He’s offered us his accommodations until tonight,” I pointed at the operating room.

  “For some reason, I’m not enthused about sleeping on a table used to dissect vampires,” Shae said.

  “If it makes any difference, that table is not for vampires; it’s for my kind.” Seeing her look, “Again, a long story,” I said.

  “All your stories seem to be long,” she said, coming over to me. “Also, sounds like you have a lot on your mind.”

  “Just dreading a cold emergency shower,” I glanced at the yellow curtain off to the side.

  A twinkle came into her eye. “I didn’t know you and Travis were so close.”

  A snort of laughter escaped the control room. Apparently, Travis hadn’t resealed it. Shae threw the control room a dirty look. A moment later, the hiss of Travis sealing the room filled the air.

  “It was funny,” I offered.

  “Uh-huh,” she nodded, grabbing my hand and heading towards the operating room. “You don’t smell that bad,” she said, closing the door behind us. “Can you block these windows as well?”

  I briefly glanced at the controls and fumbled with a few keys before the windows changed to the same shade of green I’d seen from inside the control booth.

  “Sound too?” Shae asked.

  “I don’t think it will matter—” but her look cut me off. I flipped the pressurize switch, and my ears popped again.

  “I don’t care too much for your friend,” she said.

  “Really? I hadn’t noticed with all the slapping and such,” I said.

  Shae turned away and went to the operating bed. It looked like seat cushions from several chairs had been laid out and covered with several sheets, making a lumpy bed. She sighed and effortlessly pushed herself into a sitting position on the side of the bed, her legs dangling. “You tired?”

  I suppressed a yawn, “No.”

  “You’re a terrible liar, you know that?” she smiled.

  “You’ve said so before,” I said.

  She curled her finger at me with a “come hither” look.

  I went to her and stood by as she wrapped her legs around my waist. I looked up at her, one eyebrow raised.

  “Don’t start,” She put her arms around my neck and pulled me to her, burying her face in my neck. “I just want...I could use this,” she nuzzled the base of my neck, running her nose along my collarbone. “I wish I knew why this is so relaxing to me.”

  I could feel her almost purring against me. “I wouldn’t exactly call it relaxing,” I said, shifting slightly. “But it’s definitely not unpleasant.” I pulled back from her slightly. “I don’t get you. You’re hands off one minute, and the next, you’re rubbing against me like a cat.”

  “I don’t get it either,” she sighed. “It’s like my mind says one thing and my body another. My mind doesn’t like to let me relax around you; it's really confusing. When I find something that lets me break these weird rules I don’t understand, I try to hold onto it but am scared to do anything else in case it ruins it. Does that make any sense?”

  “Not really,” I admitted.

  “Shut up and come here,” she pulled me up onto the table. Curling up in front of me as the small spoon, she nestled into my body. My arm instinctually wrapping around her. I noticed for the first time that our bodies seemed to fit together better than they had so long ago, probably because I’d grown a bit.

  “Now, tell me all your dirty secrets,” she whispered.

  “We have to leave tonight; there’s not enough time for all that,” I scoffed.

  She slapped my thigh playfully. “Tell me your long story before you fall asleep.”

  “You sure you want to hear it? It’s not a good bedtime story,” I said.

  “I know all about horror stories,” she said quietly. “Some of it I’ve already seen in your memories. But I want to know the truth of it. Let me have it.”

  “You asked for it.” I shrugged, burying my nose in her hair. Even though we’d been riding all night, her hair still had the faint smell of Jasmine. I wondered what shampoo she used to keep that smell so long.

  “So...after you disappeared, I went kinda nuts trying to find you. I continued to go to school by some miracle, remembering how you were the last time I tried to quit. After graduation, I still couldn’t find you, and no one had seen you either. That lasted another several months before I couldn’t take it anymore and ran away.

  “Well, I tried to run away. I went off and joined the Air Force with the promise that they’d send me as far away from Austin as I could get. I was desperate because I couldn’t get you out of my head. I didn’t care what I did for them, so they made me an Air Force police officer, as there never seemed to be enough of them. After six months, I knew why nobody wanted the job. For how important the job was, the duty hours were crap, the deployment tempo ridiculous, and everyone treated you like garbage. But I was in for six years, so there was nothing I could do; I just embraced the suck.

  “A couple years passed, and I was in Louisiana when they came for me.” I suddenly stopped, thinking about what I was about to say and to whom I was saying it.

  “What?” she asked.

  “It’s just that...well, everything I’m about to tell you is highly classified.”

  “And if you tell me, then you’re telling Pagoda?” she said.

  “Right.”

  “Well, I already know the military has a top-secret program that augments humans into semi-vampires, and they go around the world policing things. What else is there?”

  “Right,” I shrugged. “I don’t think they will be holding court martials anytime soon either. Where was I?”

  “They came for you,” she prompted.

  “Ah yes, Barksdale AFB, armpit of the Air Force. A man shows up all 007 and wants to know about the vampires I had hung out with. Turns out most tap boys end up with a genetic marker from all the spit shoved in our bodies. The marker remains dormant until triggered by the chemical they’d developed.”

  I yawned trying to remember how long I’d been awake now. My sleep patterns were erratic so I tried to catch a few hours wherever I could.

  “The drug makes us faster, stronger, tougher than normal humans. It enhances our senses, aids healing, the works,” I said.

  “To what extent?” she asked.

  “Not a normal vampire. I’d say we’d probably be on par with the weakest vamp you could come across. Anyway, they enrolled me in the program and started giving me injections.”

  “You didn’t have a choice?” She cocked her head.

  “No, not really. They had given me a starting shot through a glass of water I’d drank. At that point, there was no turning back. They said without continued injections, I’d die.”

  “Wait. Why do they give you shots if you can take it in water?”

  “Noticed that, did you?” I nuzzled her neck.

  “Stop that.”

  “What? You did it to me,” I said, my nose tucking behind her ear.

  “Stay focused.”

  “I am,” I said.

  She sighed, “On with the story, eejit.”

  “Eejit?”

  “Story,” she said firmly.

  “Fine,” I sighed, kissing the back of her head. “Yeah, I didn’t catch on to that fact until later. Complete lie. They just used it as a hook to suck you in. It seemed they’d been watching me for my entire career. You know those TB tests they give you where they stab your arm with four little needles, then you have to come back a week later to see if you had a reaction?”

  “Actually, no,” she laughed. “That was a bit after my time.”

  “Right,” I said, remembering she’d probably been a vampire long before the test had been developed. “It’s hard to remember how old you are sometimes since you haven’t told me.”

  “Be nice,” she scolded.

  “No, seriously. You act so ‘normal,’ or ‘modern,’ or whatever. I mean, you don’t even have an accent,” I said in frustration. “I’m not making sense.”

  “I adapt to the times. It makes things easier. You try walking around speaking old English, or old Spanish, or even Gaeilge Chlasaiceach, for that matter, and see what happens. But you’re starting to babble. Story.”

  “Right. So, it wasn’t only tuberculosis they were testing for. One of the needles had an agent that would react with the tap boy genetic marker,” I said.

  “TB test...tap boy test.” She chuckled.

  “Yeah. Needless to say, I spent the next six months at a military medical center like this one, undergoing initial processing and then another six months of training. By the end of the year, I’d learned to use my newfound abilities to “maintain order” in the world: more propaganda.

  “They sent me all over doing this mission and that mission, easy stuff at first. Personnel protection, guarding convoys, things like that. Then they started farming me out to other agencies, and I started going through raids, assaults, assassinations, you name it. Most of the time, it was just ordinary bad guys, or at least what I was told were bad guys. Occasionally, we’d run across other supernaturals, and things would get dicey. If we knew about them in advance, we’d only go in as a team or multiple teams. If we didn’t know about them, it never ended well.

  “When my six years were finally up, they extended my enlistment. I didn’t care, where could I go? I knew I would have to take that drug for the rest of my life, and they made it abundantly clear I was cut off if I ever separated from the service. We’d heard horror stories about guys who quit. They supposedly died of heart failure, severe seizures, aneurysms, etc. So, I stayed on willingly. What did I have to lose?

  “It also definitely kept my mind off you. That is, except when we were sent in to raid a lair. My nerves would kick in then, worrying if I might come across you and what I would do if I did. Those days, I always took an extra dose even though we weren’t supposed to. Afterward, I’d drink myself into unconsciousness; it was the only time I ever overindulged. The guys always figured it was the fact we were going up against vamps that did it to me. They never knew.

  She pulled my hand off her chest and kissed it. “Sorry,” she whispered.

  “Tell it to my liver,” I tried to laugh it off. “It’s in the past. What can you do?” I meant it rhetorically, but she rolled over to face me, the loose cushions shifting around.

  Shae touched my face gently. The touch of her cool skin made blood rush to my face. I put my hand on hers and moved it to my mouth, kissing it lightly. Again, I tried to stifle a yawn, making her smile.

  “OK, no more stories. Go to sleep now.” This time, she rolled me onto my other side, and she lay behind me as the big spoon. She pulled me tightly against her, wrapping one leg over the top of mine and one hand under my arm, resting flat on my chest.

  “I guess that’s one good thing about being a vampire,” I said.

  “What’s that?” she asked.

  “Your arm doesn’t go to sleep,” I said, turning my head and kissing her arm beneath me a moment before relaxing again. I could hear her chuckle and feel her chest shudder against my back. Then I was asleep.

  I woke up a few hours later with someone breathing in my ear. I lay still for a minute, collecting my thoughts. When I felt Shae shift slightly against my back, I realized she was still asleep.

  Feeling her wrapped around me, asleep and completely vulnerable, caused something inside me to start burning. The burn rose slowly up until it crept across my cheeks. Her touch's coolness, combined with my body's warmth, caused me to relax and fall back asleep.

  ∞?∞

  SHAE

  I snapped awake, remembering in time not to jump as James was still in my arms. I checked, and sure enough, he was still racked out. I gently removed myself and rolled out of the bed. I stretched, listening to the occasional pop inside my body.

  I managed to figure out how to open the door and stepped outside, closing the door behind me quietly.

  “There’s coffee if you want it,” Travis’s voice startled me. I’d been too focused on James and didn’t notice him sitting on one of the tables, drinking coffee.

  “No thanks. I don’t think I could handle it right now.” I hadn’t had a good feed in a while and didn’t want to risk it. Besides, coffee was just burnt water; tea was better. There was nothing like a good cuppa.

  “I’ve got tea as well,” he said, almost as if reading my mind.

  “Under normal conditions, yes, please. But,” I shook my head, “not now. Thanks.”

  A sudden flare of understanding appeared in his eyes. “Oh.”

  I clicked the side of my mouth and pointed my finger at him with a “you got it” gesture.

  “How do you know?” he asked.

  I looked at him.

  “When you can and can’t eat,” he said.

  “After a while, you just sorta get used to how your body reacts. Kind of like when you’re eating, and suddenly your body goes, ‘Hey, that’s enough; I’m full.’ It’s subtle and easy to miss, so sometimes you gorge until your stomach hurts. I’ve gone through great pains to avoid that.”

  “We,” he started. “We don’t get to talk to your kind very often.”

  “Mostly just ‘hands up’ and ‘freeze,’ stuff like that?”

  “Yep, pretty much,” he said cautiously. “Most of the ones we do get to talk to either don’t want to talk or spend the entire time cussing us out.”

  “I can see why, under the circumstances,” I motioned to our surroundings. When I looked at him, he was looking at the floor. “Why the change of heart?”

  “What do you mean?” he said.

  “Well, you went from bimbo to coffee pretty quick,” I said.

  “It...” he started. “Well...” he seemed downright embarrassed.

  “You were listening in, right?” I asked.

  “There’s a video feed to the room,” he sighed. “Sorry, I’ve been by myself a while now.”

  “Sorry?” I offered.

  “Like I said, we don’t get to talk to your people; I was curious. Normally, all we have to go on is what we see, read and are told. You’re not what I was expecting at all,” he said.

  “Not sparkly?” I said, making him smile.

  “No, definitely not,” he grinned.

  “What changed your mind?” I asked.

  “Watching the two of you.”

  “Oh?” I said.

  He looked genuinely sad then. “I don’t know anything about you or what happened back then, just what James told me.”

  “I can imagine how that went,” I said, shaking my head.

  “No...not like that. He only ever spoke good things when he’d talk about you at all, which wasn’t very often. Usually, when he’d go on one of his benders.” He chuckled to himself. “But watching you with him. There’s no way that is a bad thing.”

  “Uh, thanks?” I wasn’t sure if I was buying this, but he seemed sincere enough.

  “Forget I said anything,” he said as he shook his head and walked back to the control room.

  “Did he ask about the serum?” I asked.

  Travis stopped and turned back. “No.”

  “He’s been out since Z Day. We’ve been supplementing with fresh blood. It seems to have helped slow the deterioration, but he’s getting worse. In body...and mind,” I said in a rush.

  “Z Day?” he whistled. “OK, talk to me.”

  “The shakes are back, random but more than just tremors. Hands, arms, legs, you name it. His mental acuity is sporadic. He’s prone to sudden outbursts, rage and reckless decision-making.

  “Yeah,” he sighed. “That’s stage three withdrawal, alright.”

  “Stage three?” I asked.

  “There isn’t a stage four,” he said with finality.

  I shook my head, understanding the ramifications. “Do you have more serum?”

  “I do, but each serum is custom-tailored to us. I don’t have his. It was supposed to be flown into Randolph, but Z Day happened, and it never made it. The best I could do would be a generic baseline serum we use for newbies. But...”

  “But?” I said.

  “He’s been off it so long, I don’t know what it would do to him,” he said, shaking his head.

  “He’s already dying; what’s there to lose?” I asked.

  “True,” he rubbed his eyes, “but I wouldn’t use it unless it’s absolutely necessary, just in case. You can’t test it; it’s an all-or-nothing formula.”

  “I understand,” I said.

  He nodded and went back into the control room, coming back a little while later with a black pelican case. Inside were a dozen cigar-sized metal tubes.

  “Each one of these is good for a day,” he said.

  “One day?” I was shocked.

  “Like I said, they’re designed for the newbies. They were given one daily so the techs could monitor and adjust the formula as needed. And before you ask, neither of us knows how to do that. So, if you must use one, and it works, you’ll have 11 days to get back here.”

  “How much do you have?” I asked.

  He looked grim. “I might have another 90 days, 100 at the outside. After that, the only other option would be to hit up another lab, but I haven’t been able to contact any of them, so they may be gone.”

  I took the case from him, “Thank you,” I said sincerely.

  “Sorry I didn’t have better news,” he offered.

  “We’ll take what we can get.”

  “Anyway, here’s the rest of the stuff James wanted,” he indicated a stack of black pelican cases stacked off to one side of the room.

  I took two auto-injectors from the pelican case before closing it and putting it up with the others. I slid the two tubes into the cargo pocket of my pants.

  “There’s a bike up top with a sidecar I’ve been using. It should be able to hold all this stuff for you,” he said.

  “I was going to ask. I didn’t think James would hold all this on the way home.” I smiled at him, a genuine smile to the man I’d slapped only a few hours before.

  His broad grin back was refreshing. “Just take care of that idiot in there.”

  “He is a bother, isn’t he?” I sighed.

  Travis chuckled, “That he can be, yes, ma’am.”

  “What are you going to do when we leave?” I asked.

  “I’ll soldier on. I have enough food, water and power to keep me supplied for years. I’ll keep my ears open and pray the powers that be somehow manage to get this thing under control and eventually get us back to some semblance of normality.”

  “All by yourself?” I asked.

  “Someone has to do it. Besides, now that I’m all by my lonesome, I can walk around nekkid anytime I want.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me suggestively.

  “I’ll make sure and knock when we come for a visit,” I said.

  “Probably a good idea,” he laughed. He glanced at his watch. “Sundown soon. Might as well go wake sleeping beauty, moonlight’s burning.”

  I looked at him for a long moment before nodding and heading to wake up James. I paused and looked over my shoulder. “You know, not all of us are monsters. Most, yes; I have to admit that, but not all.”

  “In my experience, the vampire good-to-bad ratio seems to be pretty much the opposite of what humans have,” he said.

  “In my experience,” I started, “you’re not wrong. Just remember, though, the term monster is not exclusive to us. I’ve seen a fair share of humans who earned that moniker as well.”

  He nodded as I turned back to the door.

  Yup, you guessed it, more Book 0 references. [Maybe you should check it out. -Rhiannon]