Luke Irontree & the Last Vampire War (Books 8-10), page 12
“Fulfilled a last request.” Luke reached into the pouch on his belt and pulled out a small range finding scope and swept the other watch towers to see if and how they were arrayed.
“I see someone moving around in the southwest tower,” Luke said.
A shot cracked into the night along with a flash of muzzle flair from the southwest tower.
“Shit, sniper. You about got that gun set up, Owen?”
“Almost.” Owen made a disgusted noise, as he wiped shiny liquid off the gun. “Someone was a bit indelicate with the gunner after he got shot.”
Pablo held up his clawed paw and curled down his fingers, leaving the middle one up for Owen. Tossing aside a few rounds on an ammo belt, Owen reached into a metal container and pulled out a fresh belt of rounds, laying them into their spot before snapping the lid down. Another sniper shot fired from the southwest tower just as Owen pulled the charging lever.
Owen opened fire with a couple short bursts to find the range, then homed in on the bits of movement that pinpointed the sniper. As the heavy machine gun rounds ripped into the wood of the watchtower and whatever was in it, something rolled out the side and tumbled to the ground, hitting with a slight bounce. Luke watched with his scope. It looked like their shooter. Whoever it was didn’t move.
“Nice job, Owen. I’m gonna head back down in a minute. Keep your radio on and watch the ladder. You ready to go back down, Pablo?” Luke swung his scope around to check out the two north towers.
Pablo growled and moved toward the ladder.
“I’ll cover your descent, buddy.” Luke put away his scope and brought the shotgun loaded with slugs around to cover Pablo as he climbed down. As soon as Pablo’s foot hit dirt, Luke returned the shotgun to his back and slid his foot over the end. “Good luck, Owen.”
“You, too, Luke.” Owen let out a small burst that flew between a couple buildings. “Better hurry, somebody is trying to rally the defenders.”
Luke shimmied down the ladder as quickly as he could and landed in a crouch as he pulled around a shotgun. Pablo waited nearby, covering for his friend.
“Well, on to our next objective,” Luke whispered to Pablo.
Pablo nodded, turning to scout their next run. So far things had gone relatively smoothly, but they’d barely engaged the number of people this camp could house, nor had they found a single prisoner yet. And that, above all else, worried Luke as he wondered if or when the other shoe would drop.
Chapter
Eleven
Luke saw shadows moving along the south fence on the other side. He waved Pablo to follow him, then took off in a low crouching run along the fence. The flicks of white cloth in various spots reassured him that his other teams were finally here.
“Delilah?” Luke whispered loudly.
“Hey Luke, how you doing?”
“Good. How about your team?” Luke asked, looking around. “Where’s Brutus?”
“Three wounded. They’re hiding out behind that hill until it’s clear to move in. Your dog is with Simone. He’s taken a liking to her. You found any hostages yet?” Delilah grabbed the heavy cable and held on to one end while Erin held onto another section as someone else brought up the bolt cutters and snapped the thick wire in two.
“No. No hostages yet.”
Delilah frowned and grunted as she took the weight of the cut cable. She and Erin barely held onto it as it pulled them without the tension holding it. They managed to keep their grips and set the cable down. Prepared this time, they repeated the process on the next cable. All told, they clipped eight cables and made a wide path for their team to enter.
The firefight between Luke’s team and the enemy resistance moved closer as they traded shots along the buildings. An occasional scream or yip of pain punctuated the shots. He knew werewolves healed quickly, but he hoped nothing was serious. Having to undergo a procedure to remove healed-over bullets and shrapnel was not fun. He had plenty of experience with that himself and would again soon.
“What next?” Delilah asked.
“Post a couple people here just to be on the safe side. The rest are on me,” Luke said, turning to the nearest building and running toward it.
After the dash across the open space, Luke pressed his back against the wall of the building. Delilah leaned against the wall next to him.
“Have you seen Simone yet?” Delilah asked.
Luke shook his head. “No, but I’ve not been that way yet.”
Delilah nodded.
Off to the west, they heard gunfire break out.
“Sounds like she’s arrived.” Luke looked around. “Pablo, you’re with me. I need five more people. Delilah, you take the rest of your people and sweep this building.” Luke patted the wall lightly.
Before Delilah could protest, he took off, dodging to the next building, then the next until he had a clear view of the fence where Simone was currently being prevented from entering. He couldn’t see where the opposing shots were coming from, but he had a decent idea from his little jaunt to take out the generator. He grabbed his team and worked their way back to the next alley and peered down.
He saw shadows moving toward the fence. Dashing to the next building, he barreled across the intersecting alley. He checked both ways and waited for the rest of his team to catch up. One by one, they leapfrogged buildings until Luke raised his fist to halt his small team. As he tiptoed silently to the end of the building, leaving everyone behind him, he pulled out the small collapsible periscope from its belt pouch.
With his back against the wall, he poked the periscope around the corner and watched as a few people and vampires kept up a steady barrage of shots toward the fence, using the wreck of the generator as cover. He’d seen enough.
Making his way back down, he rejoined his small team. “You two down to the end and open up fire as soon as you get down there. Go slow so you can space out your ammo. The rest of you are with me.”
Luke pulled out the wooden bayonet and attached it to the end of his shotgun. With a quick check to make sure they were clear, he darted around the corner and then the next corner just in time to stake a vampire that had drifted too far back from the action. It dissolved into powder. Shotgun shots rang out, sending those in front of his team ducking at the new threat and distracting Luke and his people. Pablo slid past Luke and snapped the neck of a merc. Then someone staked a vamp. Finally, the defenders noticed the new threat and tried to run away. Luke and his team opened fire, taking them out and sending a few scurrying away to the north, where they’d likely run into the rest of Luke’s people.
With the cessation of fire, Simone and her people quickly brought down the cables and joined Luke. He split them up and sent them toward different buildings. With the added weight of two large teams, the resistance crumbled. No mercy was given to vampires. Werewolves were taken aside to be dealt with later. The mercs were tied up and kept under guard.
Luke’s frustration was reaching peak levels after finding none of the missing people or wolves, nor any of the trappings of the vampire nursery he thought they’d find. Using the radio, he called for his leadership team to meet at the end of the building under the watchful eye of Owen and the heavy machine gun he still crewed.
“Why haven’t we found anything else?” Sam asked.
Luke shrugged. “I don’t know. I can feel more vampires near.” He turned to Roxi, who nodded, then to Delilah.
“Yeah. I can feel them, too,” Delilah replied.
“Then where are they?” Erin asked.
“We’re going to need to sweep back through the camp and look for any clues or something we missed,” Luke replied. “Let’s organize some defensive teams to keep an eye out for any reinforcements coming while we sweep—”
Someone cut in on the radio. “Spartacus. I think you better come check this out. I’ll send someone to come find you.”
“Copy.” Luke headed toward the center and met Ahmed on the way.
“We found something you might want to see, Luke.” Ahmed said, then turned and jogged away.
Luke and the leadership team followed him until they came to one of the buildings Owen had tossed grenades into.
“We were searching around for anything usable to salvage, and we picked up some of the furniture that had been blown up. One of the cabinets caught on a rug and pulled it away, revealing this.” Ahmed pointed to the floor.
A huge trap door covered a sizable section of the floor. It looked about six feet by six feet. Together, Pablo and Luke opened it, leaning it against the wall. There was some sort of door, or maybe an elevator. Luke put out his hand and someone put a flashlight in it. Dropping to the floor, he shined the light under the floorboards, searching for any kind of indication of what the metal square below him was.
“What is it, Luke?” Erin asked.
“I’m not sure yet.” Luke reached in and rubbed his fingers over a shadow, knocking the dirt off of a metal pipe. He followed the line of it to the wall at his feet. “There’s a pipe running under the floor to the wall behind me. See if you can find a hidden panel or something.”
Behind him, people moved busted up furniture and pulled down curtains and various things hanging on the wall.
“I found something. Looks like a fuse box,” Ahmed said.
Luke rolled over and looked. “Open it.”
Ahmed pulled the panel open, revealing an up, down, and stop button.
“Shit. We shouldn’t have blown up all their power sources,” Sam said.
“Let’s give it a try, anyway. If it were me, I’d have a redundancy or some extra backup system, so I wouldn’t be trapped underground if there was a power outage.” Luke moved back so his head was clear of the area.
Ahmed pressed the up button, and something below clanged. “Anything?”
Luke looked down at the edges. They’d risen a slight amount.
“Yeah. Hold the button down.”
Slowly, the elevator rose out of the ground until a door was revealed. When it finally stopped, the door popped open, causing several people to jump and aim guns toward it. Fortunately, it was empty. Unfortunately, the charnel stench of death and decay billowed out. People and wolves gagged; several had to leave the building. Luke heard retching from outside.
“We found the nursery,” Luke said.
Pablo growled, putting a massive paw reassuringly on Luke’s shoulder.
Luke stepped out of the stench of the building and into the fresher air of the surrounding night. “Someone go get that observer. It’s time he does some observing.”
As they waited, Sam set up a digital video camera with a spotlight, then pulled on a harness she could attach the camera to. When one of Erin’s wolves showed up with the observer from the Sherbrooke Pack in tow, Luke addressed his people.
“This is strictly volunteer only. Except for you, Mr. Observer. What you’re going to see and smell will be horrific, nightmare-inducing stuff. I don’t know how big it is down there, but I’d like to take down ten people.”
When he got his volunteers, he had everyone load up on fresh shells and strip down to just weapons and ammo so they could move quick and not get caught if space got tight.
“Alpha team is with me. Bravo team is with Roxi. Delta team is ready if we call for back up. I’m hoping we’re going to find some live people down there to rescue, so be ready. We’ve got medical supplies and sports drinks in the delivery van at the gates.” When Luke looked around at his volunteers, he saw faces paling and hands trembling as they prepared to venture into whatever underground hell the vampires had set up.
Luke and his team stepped into the elevator and prepared, some folks kneeling with their guns at the ready, the rest behind them with guns raised.
“OK, team. Lights on.” Luke flicked on the head lantern he’d put on.
Once all the head lanterns were on, as well as a few flashlights that’d been taped to their shotguns, Luke nodded at Simone, who pushed the down button. The elevator jolted to life.
As they descended, Luke breathed shallowly, trying to keep his breathing steady and his concentration tight, even though he was having trouble with the latter. His mind kept drifting to the various vampire nursery horrors he’d seen over his life. He still wasn’t inured to it. Maggie said his compassion and ability to keep his humanity after all this time was one of the things she loved and admired about him. Right now, he wished he could switch it off, at least for the duration.
Several people looked down at his foot. Under the attention, he stopped tapping it. Usually in the heat of action, his nerves calmed. He didn’t like that they’d grown more edgy as they descended into the earth. Even the gentle hand of Roxi on his elbow didn’t help.
When the elevator bumped to a stop, safeties were flicked off and everyone tensed, ready to go into action as soon as the door opened. No one met them at the bottom except for an intensification of the stench. A few people gagged, struggling to keep their stomachs under control. The lights were low and dim, as if running on emergency power. An occasional light flickered.
Luke stepped out and swept his gun around, making sure their path was indeed clear. After a short stretch forward from the door, the tunnel took a sharp left turn. Peeking around the corner, Luke stepped around fully when he judged it clear, waiting for the rest of the team to get behind him. The last person out of the elevator ensured the door was shut and found the panel to send it back up. Connor pressed up against the other wall and knelt, aiming down the corridor with Luke while they waited for the second team to join them.
The rattle of the elevator door opening alerted them to the arrival of their friends. Making eye contact with Connor, Luke stalked down the corridor with his gun raised as he swept the barrel in a narrow side-to-side motion to ensure he had everything targeted. Connor proceeded beside him. When they arrived at their next directional change, they had a choice to make—left or right.
“I think the vampires are to the right,” Roxi said.
Luke nodded. “I agree.”
Delilah pulled out a can of florescent orange spray paint and sprayed a symbol on the wall so they could find their way back in a hurry if they needed. She returned it to a holster on her belt on her right hip. Her jian hung from her left hip.
“Should we leave someone here to guard the way back?” Sam asked.
Luke checked the signal on his radio but got nothing back but static. “Connor, run back and get the backup team and have them hold this passage.”
“Right.” Connor took off back down the corridor.
“Should we wait?” Delilah asked.
“No, let’s move forward. We’ve got enough werewolves here to hear anything sneaking up on us.” Luke waved everyone forward.
Once again, he took point. So far, the sense of vampires didn’t seem to be shifting away or nearer, but the stench diminished slightly, or his nose was working overtime to ignore it. As they found no rooms, Luke became more concerned and wondered how big this tunnel system was. He perked up, holding his fist up to stop his team. Vampires were approaching. Rapidly.
“Two-person fire teams, step forward when the team in front of you is out. Advance until I call a halt.” Luke knelt and braced his shotgun against his shoulder. Roxi joined him, aiming down the corridor.
The waiting extended interminably, then the vampires burst from an entrance buried deep in the shadows that the team couldn’t see. Luke opened fire as did Roxi a split second later. The first vampires went down in a hail of silver and wood, screaming. One splatted to the ground in a wet, noisy mess. Before Luke could empty his magazine, the vampires reversed course, leaving their fallen friends to writhe in the middle of the hallway, screaming in agony as the silver and wood burned their bodies from the inside.
“Next team,” Luke said.
Delilah and Mary stepped forward while Luke and Roxi reloaded. With their weapons full, they stood and followed as they crept down the hall until they neared the opening and the wounded vampires. Luke slipped between Delilah and Mary and staked the three vampires with the wooden bayonet at the end of his shotgun, dusting one and gooing the other two. Roxi yanked him back just in time as a bullet thudded into the wall to their left. The vampires had waited until they’d poked their heads into the corridor.
Luke, adrenaline pumping, reached into his pocket and pulled out a grenade, holding it up. He tilted his head to the side, raised his eyebrows, and gave it a little shake. Delilah rolled her eyes but nodded. Luke waved everyone back, then pulled the pin. When he let the spoon fly, he side-arm pitched it down the corridor then ran back, diving onto the ground and covering his head. A second later, the grenade went off. A bit of debris and smoke floated out of the corridor, hitting the wall the bullet had thudded into moments ago.
Standing, Luke jogged back to the side corridor. He pulled off his headlamp and flashed it down the corridor before carefully peeking around when he received no answering fire. The light shined through smoke and dust. When nothing responded, he forced himself further out into the opening.
“Roxi, with me,” Luke said.
Roxi tucked up next to him. Together, they had the best armor for surviving bullets. As they slowly worked their way down the corridor, they eventually found the results of the grenade in the twisted bodies of the vampires they’d missed earlier. Together, they took turns staking the vamps, each using their own rudis, and topped off on some energy. Just ahead, a bit of light poured out into the corridor.
Pressing his back against the wall, Luke worked his way to the opening and took a quick look, then spun into the doorway. He kicked the shattered door out of his way and swept the room with his gun. Along one wall, half a dozen bunks were arranged in the tight confines. He took a quick look for anything of value, pocketing a pistol and a couple of magazines before rejoining Roxi in the corridor.
“I think they’re just ahead,” came a faint voice from further down the corridor.
Luke dropped to his knee, aiming down the corridor.
