The Relict (Book 1): Drawing Blood (9 page)

But when Spector didn’t hear Julian speak for awhile, he looked up to discover…

The vampire was gone.

One of the goons wasn’t happy that Matt continued to stay there and stare at the three dead prisoners. He shoved him with his baton. When he still didn’t move, the guard smashed the baton into his gut, which caused Matt to double over and nearly fall to his knees. He was barely able to maintain his balance; it took his feet shuffling in the dirt as if he was learning some new dance step.

When he finally was able to stand straight again, he looked up at the guard, who remained hovering near him, ready to deliver another blow.

It took a baton blast to his gut to make him feel better. The pain shooting through his entire body was what he needed to finally feel whole again.

He was grateful for what the goon had done, and tried to show his appreciation with a smile.

Chapter Sixteen

As the sun began to rise, Matt was still staring out from one of the barracks’ windows. The remains of Hamilton, Tulliver, and Chast were being cleaned up by the goons and stuffed into military body bags.

However, for the last half hour his attention had been divided. Matt had also been watching some activity beyond the fence, where an armored delivery truck was parked beyond the security checkpoint, outside the compound gate. Goons were hauling stainless-steel coolers out to the vehicle and loading them in the back.

In another part of the same building, Barrett was peeping out his own window, making sure the area was completely clear of any goons patrolling nearby.

Satisfied the timing was right, he scrambled across the shower area, where a dozen empty stalls were running water. The noise and the steam, was meant to camouflage the covert gathering taking place in the only shower stall not running water where a group of prisoners had gathered: Tyra, Barrett, Dietz, Juarez, Murphy, Chong, and Grouse.

“Okay, most of the goons are having breakfast,” said Barrett. “The others are still focused on cleaning up the mess from last night.”

Juarez made it a point of looking over at Murphy for a reaction, but Murphy had his head down, and he was staring at the tile floor.

Tyra stepped into the middle of the group as a way of getting everyone’s attention. “I think it’s time we… do something.”

“Like what?” asked Juarez.

“What we’ve been talking about for the last several months,” answered Tyra. “A plan to escape…”

Everyone in the circle reacted, which got Barrett to raise his hands to quiet everyone down.

“After what we just witnessed?” said Juarez. “No offense, but you either have balls where your brain should be... or no brain at all.”

Tyra wasn’t sure how to react to Juarez’s statement. If she let it go, then maybe no one would respect her enough to listen to what she had to say. But if she tried to make Juarez eat his words, the whole meeting could swing in the wrong direction.

“If either is true,” said Dr. Dietz, “you should come to the infirmary later today and let me check into that situation.”

The group laughed, and whether he intended it or not, Tyra was grateful the doctor had helped her avoid a confrontation.

“Here’s what I see happening,” said Tyra. “New prisoners are being brought into the camp every two to three days. It's just a matter of time before the vampires have the luxury of choosing younger, healthier donors for their blood supply. Does anyone want to guess what happens then?”

“We’ll all be elevated to Emeritus status…,” answered Chong.

Dietz was the only person who laughed at the remark.

“This is a tough crowd,” Chong mumbled to himself.

“Ty, you heard Macy: any attempt to get out of here will result in the death of twelve prisoners for any of us who tries to escape,” said Barrett.

“Believe me, I heard every word coming from that bloodsucking leech,” Tyra replied. “Which means we only have one option if we’re going to guarantee the safety of all the prisoners in the camp.”

She paused to make sure everyone in the shower stall was paying attention. Even Murphy was now looking up at her.

“We need to come up with an escape plan that will set free
all
of the camp prisoners.”

Her idea was initially greeted with stunned silence.

Then Juarez turned to Dietz. “Doc, I need to see you tomorrow; there’s something wrong with my hearing. I think I just heard Ty say something about the entire camp is going to escape!”

The group encircling her turned away. Most didn’t want to laugh right in her face. But certainly Tyra saw that everyone was snickering or shaking their heads to her proposal.

It was once again Barrett who tried to speak rationally to her.

“Ty, you realize, with the newest arrivals, we’re now up to 166 prisoners.”

“I know the body count. I hear it twice, every day.”

“So, you’re serious?”

Before she could respond to Juarez, there was the noise of approaching footsteps. The sound immediately silenced the group.

A figure stepped from the steam into view. It was Matt.

“What is this, like a strategy session?”

Barrett stepped in front of Matt.

“Yeah, something like that.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Matt leaned out to one side so he could see Tyra.

“I’d love to get in on this meeting. Especially if what you’re talking about is another escape attempt.”

She tapped Barrett on the shoulder to stand aside.

“Matt, I didn’t extend an invitation because you made it perfectly clear you weren’t interested in being part of… the team.”

“Yeah, fair enough…”

He looked around at all the faces staring at him – one of the guys was a psycho and his presence at the meeting spoke volumes about how desperate the situation had become; one guy had lied to him the first day he arrived at the camp and he still wasn’t sure if all he had been doing was lying to everyone else so he could stay alive; two of the guys, both in his face at that very moment, were doing their best to pretend they were still in high school; another guy standing in the circle he had seen before, but because he couldn’t see him back, he didn’t feel the need to even learn his name; the last guy was someone he was sure he had met since he arrived in camp, but somehow his personality wasn’t distinct enough to show up on his radar.

And then there was the ringleader.

Matt was sure she had begun life as the child of a father who had originally picked out the name, “Ty,” then was forced to switch to “Tyra” when he saw his newborn didn’t have a dick.

“… But that was then,” said Matt, “this is now.”

“Yeah, so how is ‘then’ and ‘now’ so different?” asked Juarez, practically spitting the question in Matt’s face.

“Before I answer, I just want to make sure Tyra has kept you all up to date on my recent effort.” He looked over at her, “You did tell everyone that I drew up a map of the local area. As requested. So even though I might not have been wearing a jersey, there can be no doubt I was committed to playing for the team.”

Tyra nodded her head and waved him forward. “He’s totally right. I’m glad to see you joining us, Matt. Hey, guys get out of his way…”

Slowly Barrett and Juarez stood aside and allowed Matt to join Tyra in the middle of the circle.

“This is nice,” Matt said. “Like the round table… with a lot of steam.”

“More like a ‘circle jerk’,” said Juarez.

Standing next to her, Matt could practically hear the adrenaline that Juarez’s words caused to start pumping through Tyra’s body.

“Ty here just proposed we sign onboard to an escape plan that frees all the prisoners,” said Barrett

Matt looked at her, then hung his head sheepishly.

“Well, now I’m afraid some of you will suspect my appearance was somehow… prearranged.”

“What are you talking about?” Tyra said looking at Matt with an incredulous face. “Are you saying you have an escape plan that gets all of us out of here?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

But before he could say another word, Barrett stepped into the middle to the address the others.

“This guy has uttered two syllables since he got here, ‘fuck’ and ‘you.’ Now suddenly he wants us to follow his lead.”

“I agree with Cliff,” Juarez immediately chimed in. “This guy is out for himself. You can see it in his eyes.”

“Look, when I first got here,” said Matt, “I didn’t know who I could trust.”

Grouse blurted out, “You still don't. I know a loner when I see one and this guy is completely out for himself.”

“I can't believe I'm saying this,” said Juarez, “but for once I actually agree with Grouse.”

“Fine. I hear you,” interrupted Tyra, quickly stepping in before the negativity spread like a cancer through the entire circle. “But tell me this – what’s the harm in at least hearing what he has to say?”

No one had an answer. At least, no one standing in the shower stall disagreed strongly enough to speak up.

“Go ahead, let’s hear your plan,” said Tyra, before stepping back and yielding the center of the circle to Matt.

“Well, as I said before, I happen to agree with Tyra. If we’re going to spring a few, we might as well get everyone out of here,” said Matt. “The reason I feel that way is because, frankly, getting out of this camp is relatively easy…”

“Chast and Tulliver might raise an objection if either of them was alive,” said Barrett.

Matt resisted the urge to look over at Murphy, instead quickly responding to Barrett’s objection.

“Actually, you’re wrong. Their deaths confirm what I just said. You see, Chast and Tulliver weren’t caught on this side of the fence. They were eventually tracked down on the outside.”

Matt turned to Tyra and said, “Which is exactly what I warned them would be the problem, right?”

Tyra nodded, and her response was sincere enough to convince the others in the circle to hear more. But Matt also saw the doubt even in her eyes – she was waiting to hear his plan.

“See, the real strategy to escaping from this shithole is what happens after we’re on the outside. How do we defend ourselves? What weapons do we use? Where do we go when the vampires start looking for us? Will we be in the right place to fight back? I actually have the answers to all those questions…”

He looked around, trying to gauge how many in the group were listening and who had already tuned him out.

“Sorry about that! I fell asleep right in the middle of the bedtime story,” said Juarez. “Hopefully I didn’t miss my favorite part about the really tall castle just yonder and how the unicorn kills all the bad vampires…?”

Matt made sure to laugh along with the other prisoners.

Then when he had the floor again, he responded, “You’re right, Juarez. If anything I propose sounds like a fairy tale, then we all die… including me.”

There was silence, but everyone was listening to whatever Matt had to say next.

“My plan has several steps, but the key to its success is that it involves… two escapes.”

Immediately his words triggered a reaction from the group, but Barrett stomped his foot on the shower tile. “All of you keep it down! Besides, I want to hear what he has to say!”

Matt wasn’t sure why Barrett took it upon himself to give him a fair hearing, but ran with the opportunity to continue.

“As I said, ‘two escapes.’ The first one will allow for a trip to a nearby town, to gather a ton of weapons and supplies, which will then be stashed in some key areas, including a strategic stronghold where we’ll all make our stand against the vampires.”

“What do you have in mind as a ‘strategic stronghold’,” asked Tyra.

Matt wasn’t put off by her question. She could have suspected that the place he had in mind was the same place to which he had directed Tulliver and Chast – his ex-wife’s house – which could have been the very place where they were eventually caught.

“My family’s old farm,” answered Matt. “There’s many advantages to going there, including the farm is at the top of a hill. You don’t have to be a West Point graduate to know the high ground is always the best place to defend.”

“And who exactly goes out during this ‘first escape’?”

The question came from Barrett, and Matt noticed that his words had a cynical undertow.

“Because of some necessary requirements for the operation to be successful, my plan only allows for one person to make the escape…”

His answer was buried in a groan of objections from the circle of prisoners. They all knew who Matt would propose to be the one prisoner making the first escape.

Tyra stepped forward with a raised hand that finally quieted the surrounding men. She then asked, “Matt, what’s your plan, and why does it only allow for one person to escape?”

He looked around, unsure if he should continue. The more details he shared, the less likely the plan would end up including him. But he realized he had no choice.

“I’ve noticed the bloodmobile makes two daily trips to the camp – once in the mornings to deliver empty bottles; and then again about ten hours later, before sunset, to pick up the most recent supply of canisters filled with blood.”

Tyra shook her head, ashamed that she had totally missed what Matt had noticed after just being here for a few days.

“But since the truck never goes past the first security checkpoint, the bloodmobile would have to be used as the escape back into the camp at the end of the day, hopefully before the second roll call… before any of the goons actually realize that the escaping prisoner had been gone at all.”

“I’m sorry,” interrupted Chong. “Call me slow, but you just described the way back into the camp. Did I miss the part of the plan about how someone is going to get out?”

“As I said, the bloodmobile never actually drives into the compound,” said Matt. “So the way out has to come from a vehicle which enters the main compound so we have the opportunity to hitch a ride out. The only vehicle I’ve seen that meets those needs is… the cadaver van.”