The Pilgrims of the Damned: A Vampire Thriller, page 17
Miles pointed to the bloodstains. “This is human. Blood is a few days old, but not everyone would be in here at once. There might be other scenes of attack, or hopefully some survivors in hiding. We go building to building, clear it all out. We don’t leave until it’s finished.”
“Are you expecting survivors?” Thomas asked.
“No,” Miles said.
“How can you be sure?” Amelia asked, she looked a little ill. “Sorry, I just…”
“Church, go with her,” Miles said as Amelia turned and ran out of the room.
“I’ll ask her question,” Thomas said. “How can you be sure?”
“You think that any desolate who did this left survivors?” Miles asked him. “But we check anyway.”
They both left the building, with Miles finding Amelia crouched at the end of the row of the fort, next to a collection of shrubs. Church sat a short distance away, keeping an eye on her.
“You okay?” he asked her.
“Nope,” Amelia said without looking back. “How many people died in there?”
“I have no idea,” Miles said, feeling as if he didn’t know anywhere near enough about what was going on, and being unhappy about it. “There’s a lot of blood in there, but a person has a lot of blood in them. You see something like that and think it must be dozens, but it might only be two or three. Don’t know yet.”
She looked back up at Miles, her eyes red, her complexion pallid. “How are you so calm?”
“Seen worse,” Miles said. “Much worse. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect me. I’ll probably nae sleep too well for a while, but I just learned to push it all aside when confronted with it. It’s nae a person anymore, it’s just bits of matter. I know that sounds callous, but any other way used to make me feel a lot like how you feel right now.”
Amelia got to her feet, with Miles holding out his hands to catch her if she fell.
“I’m okay,” she said. “You said we need to go help check the fort.”
“This might nae get much better over the next few hours,” Miles told her. “Chances are the opposite.”
“Gotta find out,” Amelia said, looking back at the bus. “And I don’t really want to spend time with the pilgrims, so I guess I’ll help search.”
The search took an hour in total, the weather becoming increasingly unpleasant the longer the night continued. It was nearly three AM when they were done. Amelia, Church, and Miles had taken a quarter of the fort, with Thomas and his three Blood Guard, the military-trained driver, and the guard of the two supply trucks taking up the rest.
They all reconvened near the exit to the fort, with no one looking as though they were all that happy about what they’d found.
“Lots of blood, no bodies,” Thomas said when everyone had shared their findings. “They took vampires and humans alike.”
“It looks like the attacks took place in the canteen, the two barracks—one vampire, one human—and the last one in a storeroom which sat under the office of the vampire in charge,” one of the Blood Guards said. “Still don’t know how they managed to clear out this whole place without someone noticing something and raising the alarm.”
“We found blood all across the walkways on both entrances,” one of the drivers said.
“They cleaned out the inside and went for the gunners and staff watching the gates,” Miles said. “That’s pretty goddamned advanced for a species who usually can’t figure out much more than which hole to put their food into.”
“Desolate Royalty?” Thomas asked.
“Possible,” Miles said, not wanting to suggest it without more proof. “Where did the desolate come from? Where did they take the bodies to?”
“We need to scan the local forest,” Thomas said. “Maybe we can follow the blood trail.”
Miles looked over at Church. “You up for a hunt?”
Church barked once.
“We’ll head out, follow the blood trails,” Miles said.
“I’ll come with you,” Thomas said. “I’ll leave two of my Blood Guard here and take the other with us. Just in case.”
“Me too,” Amelia told him. “Don’t argue.”
“If there’s a lot of activity, we might not have the personnel to deal with them properly,” Miles said. “May have to call in more people from the nearby towns to deal with it. But at least we’ll know what’s going on.”
“You still think there’s no chance of survivors?” Amelia asked.
“None,” Miles said. “Desolate don’t keep people alive. Desolate also don’t usually attack in such an organised way either, so I guess we might find something really weird out there.”
A short while later, with Miles and Church taking lead and Amelia back with Thomas and his Blood Guard, the five of them left the fort and followed Church’s nose into the forest. It took five minutes before they came across their first body part—an arm—and another three to find the weird thing that Miles was expecting.
“What is that?” Thomas asked as he caught up to Miles and Church, who were standing a few feet back from a large hole in the soft muddy ground that was littered with drag marks and footprints.
The hole itself was about ten feet in diameter. It was streaked with blood and gore, which Miles tried his best to ignore as he peered down into the darkness below. The stink that emanated from the hole told Miles that this was where the desolate had come out, and had returned with their prey.
“What the actual fuck?” Amelia asked.
“The desolate drilled a hole,” Thomas said, looking back at her. “There’s no way this is man-made, or desolate-made, without machinery. It’s an actual circle, for a start.”
“Desolate aren’t much for operating machinery,” Miles said. “But you’re right, this hole does not look like it was dug by hand. It does look a lot like the one in the garage we saw earlier. I think it’s a bit too much of a coincidence for them to be unconnected.”
“What do we do about it?” the Blood Guard asked.
“You got explosives?” Miles replied.
“What?” Thomas asked.
“Grenades?” Miles clarified. “Do you have any grenades? If not, I’d bet the fort has some. Need to find them, need to drop them down this hole, close it up. Or at least partially collapse it.”
“There might be more of them,” Amelia said.
“We don’t have all day to search for holes in the forest,” Thomas said.
Miles nodded. “Yeah, but we can close up the ones we find. If we find more. I want to know how they made it. If there are tunnels down here and the desolate start digging up, how’d they get here without the whole bloody thing collapsing on top of them?”
“Wait, you’re going to drop down there, aren’t you?” Amelia asked.
“Miles, no offence, but that sounds insane,” Thomas said.
“I’ll drop down, hopefully find out what’s going on, and fly back up,” Miles said. “There’s been enough time since I used my beast form, so it shouldn’t be an issue. And if I land down there and it’s all dead people and desolate as far as the eye can see, I get out quickly.”
No one spoke for several seconds and Miles wondered if it was because they were all trying to figure out different ways to call him an idiot.
“We need to be gone when you do it,” Thomas said. “You drop down there and disturb a bunch of desolate, we could have trouble up here.”
“I know,” Miles said. “You’re off to Brunswick next, yes?”
Thomas nodded. “It’s a straight shot up there, no need to stop. Everything should be safe.”
“Get everyone to Brunswick. I’ll meet you there tomorrow night.”
“You’ve lost your mind,” Amelia said angrily. “You have no way of knowing what’s down there.”
“I know,” Miles told her. “But if we just blow it all and leave, we run the risk of a much bigger problem. What if there’s something down there creating these tunnels? What if they happen into Bangor? Then you’re talking about potentially tens of thousands of people, nae just thirty-five.”
“You need anything?” Thomas asked.
“Explosives to blow the hole when I get down there,” Miles said.
“There’s a quartermaster’s station back in the fort,” Thomas said. “We’ll head back, gear up, we’ll get everyone in place. Once you’re ready, we open the gate and get going. Miles, if you find anything down there that—”
“I’ll get out, don’t worry,” Miles said. “Just get everything ready.”
They all returned to the fort, with Miles entering a boarded-up building that Thomas pointed to when they arrived. Miles walked off with Church and Amelia, entering the shop he’d been pointed to and going through the massive amount of clothing and weaponry that was inside.
“You know this is insane, right?” Amelia asked from the front of the shop.
“Which part?” Miles asked.
“Church, tell him he’s insane,” Amelia pleaded.
Church barked in agreement.
“We need information,” Miles said as he picked up a pair of military-style black boots and a pair of matching combat trousers. “I can get in and out without too much risk. I would rather not. In fact, I’d rather do pretty much anything else, but we can’t leave the hole there and bury our heads in the sand. We can’t just hope they don’t happen in bigger towns. Or, and this is the worst-case scenario, outside of Maine.”
The silence that filled the room was uncomfortable.
“I still don’t like it,” Amelia said eventually.
“Noted,” Miles replied, grabbing a stab vest and incendiary combat knife, pressing the button on the side of the handle, and watching the blade turn super-heated in moments. He released the button and the blade quickly cooled before he placed it in the sheath at his hip.
“You taking a gun?” Amelia asked him, pointing to an array of weaponry.
Miles picked up a shotgun and a box of incendiary shells. They were an effective weapon against the desolate, and he’d known a point-blank shot to kill one of them more than once. He grabbed a belt designed to hold a dozen shells and loaded the rest into the gun itself. He was almost done when he decided to pick up a second set of shells, and took a moment to slot each of them into a bandolier, which he put on. He looked as if he was going to war.
Amelia stood before Miles and sighed. “Please don’t get hurt. I know we’ve only spent a few days together, but I’ve come to enjoy your company.”
“I wouldn’t dream of depriving you of my company,” Miles said with a smile.
Amelia sighed again. “You’re a pain.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Just stay safe.”
Miles blinked.
“Go on,” Amelia said. “Before I do something stupid.” She picked up a shotgun and box of shells.
“Is that the something stupid?” Miles asked.
“No, this is a chance to get some weaponry if this trip is about to become more complicated,” Amelia told him, grabbing her own bandoleer before following Miles out of the store.
“You plan on killing them all yourself?” Thomas asked as Miles strode across the road, aware that the pilgrims in the bus were watching him, and trying not to glance their way.
Miles walked between the Winnebago that Thomas was using and one of the military trucks, when he found himself face to face with Jenny.
“What’s going on?” Jenny asked Miles.
Miles looked over at Thomas. “You want to explain?”
“Everyone is dead,” Thomas said. “Slaughtered by the desolate. Miles is going to figure out where they’re coming from and stop them.”
Jenny continued to stare at Miles, before nodding and walking away.
“She’s a weird one,” Thomas said when Jenny had reentered the bus, the door closing behind her.
“You’re nae kidding,” Miles agreed.
The group continued on back through the woods to the hole, where one of the Blood Guard and the drivers of the military trucks stood. They were all several feet back from the hole, and each of them glanced over on a regular basis, as if something might suddenly appear. Which, Miles figured, had already happened once, so it was a fair fear to have.
The Blood Guard passed Miles a detonator. “The explosives are planted about five feet down the well. Had to lower one of the other guards down there via rope. Apparently, it’s not a fun job.”
“How far is the range?”
“No idea underground,” the Blood Guard said. “Probably two or three kilometers above ground, so I wouldn’t try it much farther than that below ground.”
“Taken under advisement,” Miles said. He walked over to the hole, crouched, and peered down into the darkness. “Any chance someone has a fluorescent light tube? Forgot to check in the store.”
The Blood Guard removed one from a pocket and passed it to him.
Miles cracked the stick, waving it about until it glowed bright yellow before dropping it down into the hole. It bounced off the side and landed with something approximating a splat, showing little more than a tunnel at the bottom of the well. A tunnel that to Miles’s keen eye revealed a lot more blood and gore.
“You can land down there okay?” Amelia asked.
Miles did a quick judgment call in his head, before slipping the detonator into his jacket pocket. “It’s maybe a hundred feet down. I can land that without issues.”
“How did no one hear them make this?” Thomas asked. “I mean, it must have made a huge amount of noise.”
Miles looked back at him. “Something I hope to answer at the bottom.”
“You’re going to get to us at Brunswick, right?” Thomas asked.
Miles nodded as Church nuzzled against his face. “I’ll be fine. Just a little exploration before I leave here. Everyone get going. Once you’re out, I’ll drop down.”
Everyone started to walk away, leaving Miles and Amelia alone. “I’m coming with you,” she said.
“You are not,” Miles said.
Amelia held out her hand and roots burst out of the hole, making a ladder that looked surprisingly sturdy. “I am. I’m probably safer with you than anyone else. And you might need the help.”
“Amelia!” Thomas shouted, with Church beside him.
“Church, keep Thomas safe,” Miles said. “Amelia is coming with me.”
Church barked and followed Thomas to the pilgrimage, the latter shaking his head but offering no argument.
“You sure about this?” Miles asked.
“Yes,” Amelia said.
Miles looked up at the sky as the rain continued to fall—at least he was going somewhere hopefully a little drier. He stared down into a place he would have given an awful lot not to go. Bit late now. He offered Amelia his hand, which she took. “This is going to be bad. The ladder isn’t necessary, though.”
The roots crawled back into the muddy side of the wall. “Good thing I’m there to help then,” Amelia said. “I go where my bodyguard goes. It’s the only way to keep me safe.”
Miles smiled, turned into his vampire side, and stepped out into the unknown with Amelia holding on tight.
Chapter Sixteen
Miles’s long talon-like claws on his hands were perfect to use to slow his descent as they scraped down the side of the hole. He had to ignore the occasional thing that didn’t feel like dirt, and really hoped they weren’t about to land in a large cavern of desolate. Or worse.
Instead, they landed in a dark tunnel, the only light coming from the illuminated glow stick, which had started to fade, casting eerie shadows about an already creepy location. Amelia let go of him and stepped to the side as Miles scanned their surroundings.
The hole was directly above his head. It was eight feet off the ground of the tunnel beneath it, and while the ground was slick with the remains of the desolates’ victims, he wondered how on earth they’d managed to get the hole bored. There were no piles of dirt in the tunnel, no evidence that the desolate had been here with pickaxe and shovel. Miles wasn’t even sure it would have been physically possible to have done such a thing without collapsing the tunnel he stood in.
Amelia lifted her shotgun and attached a torch to the barrel, shining the light around the dark tunnel. “Wish I hadn’t done that,” she said after seeing the state of their new surroundings.
To the left of where they’d landed was the end of the tunnel. Miles placed a hand against the rock, which felt cool and wet to his touch. To the right of the hole, the tunnel continued on for farther than Miles could see.
“Let’s go find some monsters,” Miles said.
They set off toward the end of the tunnel, where Miles knocked over what he thought was a large rock with his boot, but when he looked down, he discovered it was a metal cog. He bent down and picked the cog up, turning it over in his hand. He was about to put it in his pocket for later when he noticed the tracks.
Amelia shone her light on the tracks, as Miles moved the worst of the gore and debris to the side with his booted feet, revealing more of them. Two parallel tracks that resembled what you might find on a snowmobile. He searched for the name and wondered if caterpillar tracks were right. Something had been driven, or pushed, into the tunnel, and sat under what would become a large hole going up into the canteen.
“Huh,” Miles said, his voice loud in the quiet of the tunnel.
“What is it?” Amelia asked.
“I don’t know yet,” Miles said. “Stay close.”
They set off at a steady walking pace down along the rest of the tunnel. After a hundred meters, they came out at a crossroads, with four more tunnels. There were tracks on the ground leading to and from each tunnel. Miles motioned for Amelia to stay where she was, tried the first one, and discovered it was blocked only a short distance in. The second one was the same. Only one of the tunnels wasn’t blocked, so he decided that was the one to go down.
“How do we get out again if you blow that tunnel?” Amelia asked.
Miles removed the detonator from his pocket and stared at it. “Good point. Let’s wait for now.”
They continued on down the only unblocked tunnel for several minutes, following the tracks that were still visible in the bloody ground. The smell of so much blood in such a small space made Miles need to occasionally stop walking and regain his composure. He should have had a blood pouch before he’d dropped down.
