Vampire Apocalypse: Fallout (Book 3) (33 page)

The gate was
locked and a huge lock bulged in the centre. There was no way she
could prise it off, even if she had a bar of some sort. She would
have to find the key. She turned and ran back
toward the nearest guardhouse. Many of the people in the
cage thought she was leaving for good and began to cry out, cursing
and begging her to return in the same breath. She was still twenty
feet from the guard station when the door of the barracks was
wrenched open and a thrall stomped out into the cold. She dived to
the side and only barely managed to hide behind a barrel spewing
smoke into the air. This was one of the many such barrels that were
provided for the patrols that were meant to be on station to keep
them warm. She bit down on her lip and stifled a scream as her back
grazed the heated barrel and her skin puckered where the heat
seared her.

The guard
strode right past her, hunched against the weather and cursing the
humans as he made his way toward the cage. Tanya glanced back
toward the guardhouse but someone had already closed the door to
keep the cold out. She pulled herself to her feet. She hoped that
the guard at the cage had a key or the whole thing would have been
for nothing. She saw something lying in the dirt around the barrel
and she took a moment to examine it more closely.

It was the
lid of the barrel that someone had ripped off with such force as to
tear the metal. She bent down and picked up the lid. It wasn’t too
heavy but it did have a wicked serrated edge that would do nicely
as a weapon.

She grimaced
as she straightened and the burnt skin rubbed against her clothes.
She ignored it and ran toward the thrall. She reached the gate just
as the thrall was finishing cursing and threatening the occupants
of the cage. He finished his tirade by spitting at them and then
turned to go back to the warmth of the guardhouse when Tanya
slammed the lid into his head. She had aimed for the back of his
head but he had turned toward her more quickly that she had
expected and the edge slammed into his face instead. The serrated
edge cut deeply into his left cheek and continued on, splitting his
nose and rupturing his left eye.

He fell to
the ground and began to squeal in pain and terror as he thrashed
about in the snow. The light covering of white quickly turned to
red around him as he thrashed about and Tanya frantically hit him
again and again as she tried to shut him up. If the other thralls
came to investigate, they would all be dead.

She brought
the lid down again and again, not caring where she struck him,
desperate to try and stop his screaming. Finally, he lay still and
Tanya stood heaving as she tired to get her breath back. The people
in the cage began to urge her on, quietly at first and then the
noise began to grow more desperate. She flipped the body over and
saw the damage she had inflicted on the guard. Her stomach heaved
as it took in the blood and torn features and she retched
violently, spewing up the contents of her stomach.

The noise of the people in the
cage grew louder and suddenly the guardhouse door opened again and
a shout issued from within. She frantically searched the thrall’s
body, trying to ignore the terrible damage to his features.
Nothing. She continued to search as the people began to cry in
despair. Suddenly she heard a shot and she looked up to see the
snow in front of her erupt into a small explosion. She looked up
and saw thralls spilling from the guardhouse. Shit.

Her hands
patted at the thrall’s body again but she was so cold she could
barely feel anything. There. Suddenly she felt something hard and
grabbed at it. More tufts of snow erupted around her as the thralls
continued to fire at her while they ran.

She jumped to
her feet and rammed the key into the lock and wrenched it savagely.
She sighed in relief as the lock fell away and the door suddenly
surged toward her and knocked her away as the people ran blindly
out. The thralls kept firing but for everybody that jerked and
fell, five more ran past them. Soon the thralls disappeared under
the flood of bodies.

Tanya felt a hand on her
shoulder and she started in shock until a familiar voice reached
her and she calmed instantly.

“
Thank you,”
Josh Harris said simply as he helped her to her feet. “You saved us
all, even if they are too scared to appreciate it.” He smiled at
her and then she noticed the others. She looked quizzically at
him.

“I thought you were all heading
for the hills?”

“
We thought
that we could give you a few minutes, ‘many hands make light work,’
and all that. We’ll have to hurry, though. This panic will only
last so long.”

Tanya felt like kissing the
young man in front of her. They were all risking their freedom so
they could help her search for her children. She was speechless but
decided not to waste their offer.

“
Let’s hope
that they use the same key for all the cages,” she smiled as she
held the key up. She turned and ran toward her children.

Captain William Carter urged the
helicopter on as the plant came into sight. Outwardly he forced
himself to remain calm and composed, but inside he was desperate to
get his feet on the ground. He had to find out about the attack.
Had the nuclear waste spilled into the air? Was he already
breathing in infected air? Would he win tonight only to die
horribly of radiation poisoning later? He had repeatedly demanded
updates from the plant as to the status of the spill, but the plant
had had no contact with the patrol sent to respond to the SOS since
they had left. Had Von Kruger taken out the patrol as well? No. It
was daylight. Maybe it was merely the radio signals in the
area.

He turned to the pilot and
shouted over the roar of the turbines to go back up and follow the
patrol’s route and report back either by radio or directly. He then
turned and strode toward the plant and the small group of very
nervous thralls who waited there for him. The plant’s protectors
might be incompetent but he was gratified to see that at least his
elite thralls were already moving about the plant, checking the
security. He looked up at the sky above and noted the dark clouds
rolling in from the north. The air had turned suddenly cold and the
sun was already hidden behind the first of the huge banks of
cloud
. It will be a very short day if that storm comes in
,
he mused as he reached the small group and began to shout for an
update.

Peter Harris slammed on the
brakes as he saw a dot in the sky.
Why was it coming back? Do
they know we’re here?
He watched the helicopter grow larger as
it closed the distance rapidly. God, if the thralls had enough fuel
to run those things more often they’d be screwed. They could cover
vast distances and see for miles. The helicopter began to veer off
to the north where the main road weaved around the surrounding
hills.

“
They’re
checking on the patrol,” he heard Warkowski mutter
b
eside him and nodded his agreement with
the big man.

“
They
mightn’t know about the explosion, then.” Harris turned the engine
off and stepped out of the vehicle. “Come on,” he called to the
others. “With that thing up there we can’t risk taking the truck
any further. We walk from here.” He ignored the muttered curses and
pulled his pack onto his back and stepped out into the light
drizzle that had just started.

“Looks like we’re going to get
wet on top of everything else,” Warnback complained.

“Be thankful,” Harris laughed.
“It’ll keep the radiation from the spill from spreading too
far.”

“Won’t help us if the fucking
plant blows up,” Warnback muttered but he pulled himself out of the
vehicle and started after Harris and the others.

Trevor
Atkins, in one of his best periods of lucidity since they had
rescued him, insisted he was able to walk on his own. Harris nodded
to the man but ordered Carlos Mendez to take the stretchers anyway.
He was all too aware of the serum’s debilitating toll. For now,
though, the men were happy not to have to carry the scientist. As
if to prove his newfound strength, Atkins began his trek by
launching into a lecture on the plant and its dangers.

“
So my son is
really okay?” h
e asked as he struggled to
keep up with Harris’ long strides.

“
Yes,
Trevor,” Harris sighed at the question. As the scientist had
struggled in and out of coherence, his main thought had been for
his son. While Harris could understand this, he really needed to
know as much about the plant as possible. “He’s fine. We’ll take
you to him as soon as we get back, I promise. But, for now, we
really need to know about the plant.”

“
Oh yes,” he
answered, “Of course. You must excuse me; it has been so long
since… I have searched …”

“Doc,” Warnback interrupted a
little harshly. “We got it. You’re thrilled. Now could we skip to
the part about the plant before the horizon lights up and we all
sing
Halleluiah
with the angels?”

Harris was
about to intervene but stopped himself. He was as worried as
Warnback
was. Maybe Atkins needed a firm
hand to get as much information from him before the serum took his
mind again.

Atkins looked around at the
others but nobody jumped to his defence so he sighed and
continued.

“
You see,” he
began, “the plant’s cooling system…”

“
Is cooled by
feedwater, we know. We’re not bloody amateurs, you know. We have
our own expert,” Warnback interrupted. “What we want to know is how
likely a meltdown is. In English, mind you, not
gibberish.”

Atkins was
again taken aback by the man’s interruption, but when the others
did not chastise the brute yet again he decided to get to the
point.

“
Well,” he
continued a little breathlessly as the walking began to tire him
more quickly that he had expected. “As I told you earlier, the
calibre of the technicians currently in the plant…”

“
They’re
fucking useless. We got it already,” Warnback cursed as he stumbled
over a rock. “Listen, doc,” he grinned. “While you might have all
day, we are currently walking toward a nuclear reactor that, from
what you have already told us, might just blow up in our faces as
soon as we get to it. Is it too fucking much to ask for you to tell
us how likely it is that we will get there in time and, if we do,
whether you are going to be able to shut it down in
time?”

Atkins was
shocked at Warnback’s words, but he was slowly coming to realise
the reality of the situation and what he was asking these men to
do. He sighed heavily.

“
It depends
on what has happened since I was there.” He cringed slightly as if
waiting for Warnback to interrupt again, but, when the big man
remained quiet, he decided to continue. “I am not sure how long ago
I was put back in the pens, but when I left the reactor it had
already begun to show signs of strain. The coolant systems are not
as efficient as they should be. They need to be,” he paused as he
searched for the word, “coaxed a bit.”

“Great,” Warnback interrupted
with a bitter laugh, “we’ve got a petulant reactor on our
doorstep.”

“It’s not like it was in any
danger of a meltdown,” Atkins answered back, defending the
plant.

“Unless the plant was suddenly
being looked after by a bunch of monkeys who don’t know what
they’re doing.”

“But that was never…”

“
Don’t mind
him,” Harris turned and gave Warnback a severe look, “he has a few
character flaws that take a while to get used to. We realise that
we’re faced with a situation that no one could have predicted, but
what our friend here is trying to find out is whether the plant is
likely to blow up or not.”

Atkins thought for a moment as
he struggled up a particularly steep incline and puffed a few times
before he could continue.

“
The plant
will not blow up,” he continued with as much indignity as his
shortened breath would allow. “What do you thing we are? There are
so many procedures that…”

“
Then why the
fuck are we going back if your precious plant is
hunky-dory?”

“It won’t blow up but it might
experience a meltdown if we don’t get to it in time.”

“
Isn’t that
the same thing?” Harris asked as he called for a halt. The
scientist was finding it harder to walk and talk and Harris wanted
to know as much as he could about the danger they were walking
toward.

Atkins slumped to the ground in
relief and then continued after a moment.

“
Oh no, not
at all. A
meltdown is where the reactor core
is no longer properly controlled and cooled to the extent that the
sealed nuclear fuel assemblies - that’s where the uranium or
plutonium and other highly radioactive fission products are - begin
to overheat and melt.” He paused, but seeing that no one was
interrupting him, he continued on. “The problem is that, if the
reactor containment is breached, then the core's highly radioactive
and toxic elements can escape into the atmosphere and surrounding
environment.”

“How bad would that be?” Warkowski
asked as he checked his weapons. “Are we not far enough away?”

“
It
depends.
” Atkins sighed, “No one really
knows. It doesn’t happen that often and, whenever it had happened
in the past, each case has been wildly different. In Chernobyl, the
plume travelled for thirty kilometers and caused many deaths over
the years from radiation poisoning. In Three Mile Island though,
the core practically melted completely but was contained by some
miracle. With no equipment or teams of experts to clean up the mess
in this case, there’s really no way of knowing how bad it might
become, or even whether the plant will shut down or continue to
spew radiation after the meltdown. I suppose if it’s left
completely unattended after a meltdown it is possible that it might
explode at some time in the future. I just don’t know. However, for
now, I would say there is little or no chance of the plant
exploding for some time, even if a meltdown occurs”. Atkins paused
as he looked at those around him. “Unless, of course, someone
starts shooting carelessly and destroys critical systems.” He
looked pointedly at Warnback, who shrugged.