Vampire Apocalypse: Fallout (Book 3) (32 page)

Sandra looked
over at him with a quizzical frown.

“
We have a
boy, Peter, back at
…”

“
Peter.”
T
he man suddenly became agitated. His
eyes were still unfocused like many of those in serum withdrawal,
but the name had certainly sparked a memory in the man. “Peter,” he
repeated and then began to trail away.

“
Yes.
” Harris knelt beside the
man. “We have a Peter Atkins in camp. Brown hair, eleven years old,
blue eyes…” Harris tried to recall something more but the man
suddenly snapped out a hand and gripped his arm tightly.

“Peter is alive.” Tears began to
stream down his glazed eyes. “Thank God. Is he here?”

“No, but he’s safe,” Harris
replied. “We’ll take you to him. We’re on our way there now.”

“
No.”
T
he man suddenly grew frantic. “We have
to go back. The plant…” He trailed off again as the serum fought
for control again.

“
What about
the plant?” Harris felt a cold fist grip his heart. Was the man
rambling or was there a real problem with the nuclear plant? The
man still wore a white lab coat, though it was caked with mud. It
was a very real possibility that he had worked in the plant, though
what he was doing in the food cage was beyond him.

Atkins seemed
to ignore him for a maddeningly long time, and then he suddenly
spoke again. “The coolant needs to be brought online. Warren
doesn’t know…” He trailed off again,

“
What doesn’t
Warren know, Trevor? What are you saying?” Harris felt the fear
spread through him.

“Procedures aren’t enough. Plant
will blow if…” Atkins suddenly slumped forward, exhausted from the
fight against the serum.

Harris sighed
and squeezed the man’s arm gently as he rose to face the others who
had gathered around him. At least those who were not too badly
injured.

“
We can’t
ignore this,” he began as he scanned the faces in front of him.
“Too many are injured for us all to go back, so we’ll have to split
up.”

“
No,” Sandra
said firmly, already knowing what was about to happen.

“Sandra, we have no choice,”
Harris insisted.

“Jackson, Ricks and Franklin are
just too badly injured and will only slow us down.”

“
What do you
hope to
achieve?” Denis Jackson asked
from behind the gathered crowd. There was a thick bandage around
the man’s head but he was still too dizzy to stand up.

“What do you mean?” Harris
asked.

“Are you just going to walk up
to the thralls and ask them to let you go in and stop the plant
from exploding?”

Harris
stopped for a minute as he considered the question. It was
certainly valid. The thralls would probably just shoot him before
he got the chance to open his mouth.

“
We can’t
ignore the possibility…” Harris began but Jackson interrupted
before he could complete his sentence.

“
Of course we
can,” Jackson winced as he tried to get to his feet. “We have no
way of knowing if this guy is a technician or merely some sad fool
with an overactive imagination.”

“But if the plant blows …”

“
Yeah. If it
blows then the thralls have no power. Big deal. What’s the big
problem? We’re far enough away…”

“
No.
” The word was spoken quietly
but everyone stopped and looked over toward Ricks who lay on the
ground with bandages covering most of his body. The boy was pasty,
his skin almost translucent, and his voice was weak, but there was
a firm tone that commanded everyone’s attention. “The fallout would
spread out to us in a matter of weeks. It would poison the crops,
the water…” he paused as took a shuddering breath. “We can’t let
the plant blow,” he managed and then fell into an exhausted
sleep.

Everyone remained silent for a
time as Rick’s message hit home.

“I still don’t see what you can
do.” Jackson shrugged. “But I’m willing to go with you anyway.”

“
Oh no you’re
not, Denis Jackson,” Delilah interrupted. “And how exactly do you
intend to help if you can’t even walk?” She looked over at Sandra
for support and Sandra nodded her agreement.

“
But I
can
…”

“
You can sit
there and keep quiet while we discuss our plans,” Delilah snapped
and then turned back to Harris. “I, of course, will come with you.
I’m one of the few who didn’t just stand in the line of fire like
Butch Cassidy over there.”

“
Oh no, you
don’t,” Jackson fumbled to his feet and then swayed dangerously for
a moment before grabbing onto a nearby rock to steady himself. “If
I can’t go, then neither can you.”

Harris
actually managed a smile as he looked at Delilah’s flushed face and
held up his hand to cut off her reply before the fight really got
heated. “Thank you, Delilah,” he began, “but I can’t use you. I
need to move quickly and only have room for three others. I need
Warkowski to cover our backs. Warnback and Mendez both have
experience in military manoeuvres.” He looked at her and shrugged
apologetically. He had hoped his reasoning would take the sting out
of the rejection and, to her credit; she didn’t pursue it any
further. She merely moved over to Jackson and helped him back to a
sitting position. Neither said a word to the other but her gentle
touch while she helped him get comfortable spoke
volumes.

“
It always
has to be you, doesn’t it?” Sandra had come up behind him. She kept
her voice low so their conversation remained private.

Harris looked at her and wanted
to reach out, to explain why it always had to be him. But he
couldn’t. He just couldn’t find the words.

“I’m sorry,” he finally
managed.

“
So am I,”
she replied sadly and moved off toward Ricks to check on him.
Harris was left staring at her as the other three came up behind
him with their packs already on their backs.

“
Okay,” he
said as he tore his eyes away from the back of Sandra’s head. “Two
of you grab the stretcher,” he indicated the sleeping form of
Trevor Atkins. “We’ll take turns along the way.”

Damn him
, Sandra
Harrington thought as she changed the bandages on Ricks’ shoulder.
She forced herself to concentrate on what she was doing and not to
look around at Harris. She had been forced to say goodbye so many
times that she couldn’t face another one. It just wasn’t fair. And
now he was off to stop a nuclear plant from exploding, regardless
of the thirty thralls that guarded the place. What was he thinking?
She felt annoyed, betrayed and embarrassed for feeling that way all
at the same time.

Of
course
, with Harris and the others gone,
that left those who remained with a huge problem. There was only
April, Joshua and Delilah to carry three injured men back to the
cave. There weren’t enough of them to carry three stretchers, so
one of the injured would have to walk. Harris just didn’t consider
those details; she fumed as she tied off the bandage. Well, Ricks
certainly wouldn’t be walking anywhere for a while and Ben Franklin
was too weak. In any case, the bullet lodged in his shoulder would
grate too much if he walked. So that left Jackson. A man who
couldn’t even stand straight without holding on to something for
support. And he had volunteered to go back to the plant. “Men,” she
cursed under her breath. ‘Heroes and lovers’. She had read that
somewhere. She thought for a few moments but couldn’t recall where.
Whoever wrote it had the right idea, though. That was all they were
good for.

She turned back to the camp and
looked at those who remained. They all looked to her for guidance,
and for some reason their expectant faces made her angry.
Why
couldn’t they think for themselves? Why can’t someone else take
charge?
She thought bitterly and then suddenly stopped.
My
God! Is this how Peter feels?

She looked to where Harris and
the others were already reduced to small specs in the distance.
Maybe she had been too harsh, she realised. She wished she had at
least said goodbye. She looked back to the others and sighed.
God, please keep him safe,
she prayed and then took a deep
breath.

“Okay, people, let’s get moving.
We’ve a long way to go.”

“How long do we have to carry
the bugger?” Al Warnback complained as the pain in his arms grew
worse.

“
Unt
il he’s able to walk by
himself.” Harris smiled as he took a reading and altered their
direction slightly. Warnback sneered at him in reply and continued
to mutter to himself.

Harris
ignored him. He was still wondering whether using the truck they
had abandoned was worth the risk. It was too bright for vampires at
this hour, but what about the thralls? It was probably fair to
assume that anyone going to the site of the spill was already there
or would use the main roads. If they kept to the dirt tracks they
would only have to worry about the dust they threw into the air.
That, however, was a major consideration. The dust trail would be
seen for miles and would announce their presence as surely as
writing their intention in the sky.

But it would
save them over six hours walk, more if Atkins remained too weak to
walk. Of course, it was possible that the thralls would assume that
the trail was from a thrall patrol. After all, what kind of madman
would come back to the plant after causing a nuclear waste spill?
If they only used the truck until they got to within five miles of
the plant then they could travel the rest of the way on foot. He
considered that for a moment. Was he pandering to his own sore feet
and the complaints of his men, or did that actually make
sense?

Fuck it, he thought. If we don’t
get there in time then it won’t matter either way.

Chapter 21

Tanya felt light-headed as the
blood continued to pump from her veins. The container on the shelf
was only half full but already she felt tired and lethargic.
God, if they take that much there’s no way I’ll be able to walk,
let alone run from here,
she realised bitterly. The whole plan
was dependant on her being able to get away from her guard; either
while he was trying to violate her or while he was spent
afterwards. Either way she would have to be able to run. There just
wasn’t time for her to recover her strength. “Shit,” she muttered
as she tried to think of some way to reduce the amount of blood
they took. She had to create a diversion of…

Suddenly the
door slammed open and the feeble light of dawn pushed against the
gloom of the interior but made little headway into the room. She
saw a tall figure silhouetted in the doorway
but couldn’t see clearly who it was. It didn’t matter; she
took her chance. She pulled the tubes from her arm as the thrall
guard was distracted and stifled a cry as the metal tore from her
flesh. Immediately she began to bleed onto the floor but she tore
at her shirt and wrapped it tightly around the wound. Not perfect
but it would do for now. She risked a glance over the cubicle wall
and saw the thrall guard walk uncertainly toward the figure,
voicing a question as he walked.

The figure suddenly shifted from
the doorway to a position beside the thrall in a blink of an eye.
A vampire
, she thought just before the creature reached over
and wrenched the thrall’s head sharply to the left and a loud crack
filled the small room.

The vampire looked over at her
and she felt fear overwhelm her.
Were they mad?
To have
thought they could actually take on these creatures. He had moved
so fast. Even the thrall didn’t have a chance.

“
If you’re
going to run
, then you’d better get a
move on.” The vampire smiled and then simply moved to the door and
disappeared out into the brightening sky. The dark clouds kept the
deadly sunlight at bay, but the vampire still moved quickly and
suddenly she was alone. It took her a few seconds to realise that,
for some reason, a vampire had given her the opportunity and the
time she had so desperately prayed for. She had no idea why. There
must be some in-fighting between the vampires. Not that it
mattered, one master was as bad as another. Either way, she had her
chance and was determined to grab it with both hands.

She rushed
toward the others and ripped the tubes form the first two and shook
them awake, instructing them to free the others and make their way
out. They would all meet up later, miles from here if all went
well. She looked back at the slowly moving pair she had freed and
despaired. They were so slow. She almost turned back but she forced
herself to stop. She had done all she could for them. It was up to
them if they wanted to survive. Her children were depending on her
and she would not let them down. She turned and wrenched the door
open. A blast of cold air hit her and wiped away the last of the
cobwebs in her head. Snow had begun to fall and the flakes seemed
somehow strange in their brightness against the dark of the clouds
above her.

Help from a vampire and snow in
California in spring.
What’s next?
she wondered as she began
to run. Maybe Santa Claus will sweep down and rescue us all.

The hour before dawn was a good
time for an escape. The vampires were about to retire and the
thralls tended to relax as their masters disappeared for the
daylight hours. In this weather, too, they tended to gravitate to
the warmth of their quarters and left the patrolling to those
stupid enough to remain on station, which, luckily in this case,
were few and far between. She made it to her former cage without
seeing one thrall and quickly pulled at the door. Some of the
people inside noticed her and began to shout for her to hurry. They
were making far too much noise in their excitement and she could
see Josh Harris and a number of others desperately trying to keep
them quiet as she worked.