The rabid shimmied through the cables like a grotesque monkey, lunging at my face with fangs bared. With a snarl, I threw up my arm, letting jagged teeth sink into my coat and skin, and then yanked it to the side, ripping the monster off the cables into empty air. It snatched desperately for another rope, missed and plummeted down the shaft, screaming. It was a long time before I heard the faint thud at the bottom.
More rabids crowded the door frame, their empty, dead eyes locked on me, but these seemed reluctant to take that leap. I looked around and saw Jackal already several yards below me, descending the ladder at shocking speed. Muttering dark promises under my breath, I began climbing down into the darkness.
The shaft went down at least a couple hundred feet, a pitch-black, claustrophobic tube that seemed to descend into the center of the earth. Even with my vampire sight, which turned complete darkness into shades of gray, I couldnt see the bottom or the top. It made me feel like I was dangling over a bottomless pit. I was relieved when I finally heard Jackal hit the bottom, sending a metallic thump up the shaft.
I slid down the remaining length of rope, landing on a square metal platform that swayed slightly under my weight. Gazing around, I discovered the platform wasnt attached to the walls of the tube; it appeared to be a large metal box at the bottom of the cables. A pale, broken body lay in the crack between the wall and the box, its skull smashed open on the corner.
Jackal stepped up, smirking, and I fought the urge to kick him in the shin. Looks like were on the right trail, he stated, pointing to a hatch in the center of the box that had already been pulled open. After you.
Pulling my sword, I dropped through the hatch, landing inside the rectangular box, finding these doors shoved open, as well. Beyond the opening, a long hallway ended at two thick metal doors.
Jackal hit the floor beside me, his duster settling around him, and straightened, giving the entrance a shrewd look. All right, you bastard, he muttered, walking forward. What were you looking for down here?
We went through the doors together, pushing them back, and stepped into a dark, chilling room. At first, it reminded me of the old hospital where Kanin and I had stayed in New Covington. Beds on wheels sat against the wall, sectioned off by rotted curtains, or lay tipped over on the ground. Shelves of strange instruments were scattered about, and bulky machines sprawled in the middle of the floor or in corners, knocked down and broken. Glass clinked under our feet as we maneuvered the maze of rubble and sharp objects,
I looked closer and saw that most of the beds had leather straps dangling from the sides, thick cuffs to restrain wrists and ankles. Pushing aside a moldy curtain, I jumped as a skeleton grinned at me from a bed, rotten leather restraints hanging on bony wrists. My stomach turned as I stared at the naked bones. What had happened here?
Jackal had already moved on, searching the hidden corners of the room, so I continued along a wall until I found another door. Unlike the others, this one didnt swing open at my touch. Why was it locked when none of the other doors had been? I braced myself and then lashed out with a kick, aiming for just beside the doorknob. There was a sharp, splintering crack, and the door crashed open.
It was an office, at least, it looked like one from the shelves and metal cabinets and large wooden desk in the corner. Unlike the rest of the lab, this one looked fairly clean and intact; nothing looked broken, and the furniture, though old and covered in dust, was still standing.
Except, there was a suspicious-looking dark spatter on the wall behind the desk and, when I walked around, I discovered a skeleton slumped in the corner, the threads of a long, once-white coat still clinging to him. One bony hand clutched a pistol.
Wrinkling my nose, I turned around and noticed a single book lying in the middle of the desk. Curious, I walked over and picked it up, examining the cover. It didnt have a title, and when I flipped it open, messy, handwritten pages sprang to light, instead of neat rows of typing.
Day 36 of the Human-Vampire experiment, the top line read.
All power is being redirected to keeping the lab up and running, so I am writing down my findings here, in case we lose it all. Then, if something happens to me, perhaps the project can continue from the notes I will leave behind.
We continue to lose patients at an alarming rate. Early tests with the samples from the New Covington lab have been disastrous, with our human subjects dying outright. We have not had a single patient survive the infusion of vampire blood. I hope the team in New Covington can send us samples we can actually work with.
Dr. Robertson, head scientist of the D.C. Vampire Project
I shuddered. So, it sounded like the scientists here had been working with the New Covington lab, only theyd been experimenting on humans instead of vampires. That couldnt be good. I flipped a couple more pages and read on.
Day 52 of the Human-Vampire experiment,
The power grid in the city has gone down. We are running on the emergency backup generators, but we might have had our first breakthrough today. One of the patients that we injected with the experimental cure did not immediately die. She became increasingly agitated and restless minutes after receiving the injection, and appeared to gain the heightened strength of the vampire subjects. Interestingly, she became increasingly aggressive, to the point where her mental capacities appeared to shut down and she resembled a mad or rabid animal. Sadly, she died a few hours later, but I am still hopeful that a cure can be found from this. However, some of the younger assistants are beginning to mutter; that last experiment rattled them pretty badly, and I dont blame them for wanting to quit. But we cannot let fear hinder us now. The virus must be stopped, no matter what the cost, no matter what the sacrifice. Mankinds survival depends on us.
Were close, I can feel it.
A chill crawled down my spine. I turned the page and kept reading.
Day 60 of the Human-Vampire experiment,
I received a rather frantic message today from the lead scientistat the New Covington lab. Abort the project, he told me. Do not use any more of the samples on human patients. Shut down the lab and get out.
It was shocking, to say the least. That the brilliant Malachi Crosse was telling me to abandon the project.
Im sorry, my friend. But I cannot do that. We are close to something, so very close to a breakthrough. I cannot abandon months of research, even for you. The samples that came in yesterday are the key. They will work, I am sure of it. We will beat this thing, even if I have to inject my own assistants with the new serum. It will work.
It must. We are running out of time.
I swallowed hard, then turned to the very last entry. This one was blotched and messy, as if the author had written it in a great hurry.
The lab is lost. Everyone is dead or will be dead soon. Dont know what happened, those monsters suddenly everywhere. Malachi was right. Shouldnt have insisted we go through with the last experiment. This is all on me.
Ive locked myself in my office. Cant go out, not with those things running around. I only hope they dont find a way back to the surface. If they do, heaven help us all.
Ive locked myself in my office. Cant go out, not with those things running around. I only hope they dont find a way back to the surface. If they do, heaven help us all.
If anyone finds this, the remaining samples of the retrovirus have been placed in freezer number two in cryogenic storage. And if you do find them, I pray that you will have better success than I, that you will use them to find a cure for Red Lung and for this new monstrosity we have unleashed.
Hey. Jackal appeared in the doorway before I could finish the entry. He jerked his head into the hall, serious for once. I found something. And I think youd better see this.
Taking the journal, I followed him, already suspecting what I would find. We swept through another pair of metal doors, into a small, bare room with tiled floors and walls. It was colder in here; if I were a human, my breath would be billowing out in front of me and bumps would be raised along my skin. Looking across the room, I saw why.
Four large white boxes stood along the back wall. They looked like bigger versions of normal refrigerators, except Id never seen a working one before. One of the doors was open, and a pale mist writhed out of the gap, creeping along the ground.
Silently, I walked up to the door and pulled it back, releasing a blast of cold. Inside, rows of white shelves greeted me. The shelves were plastic and narrowly spaced, and tiny glass vials winked at me from where they stood in tiered holders.
Jackal stepped behind me. Notice anything missing? he asked softly.
I scanned the shelves, and saw what he meant. Near the top, one of the layers was gone, as if it had been pulled out and never returned.
Jackal followed my gaze, his eyes darkening. Somebody took something from this freezer, he growled. None of the others are touched. And that someone was here recently, too. Now, who do you think that could be?
I shivered and stepped back, knowing exactly who it had been. As I shut the door, my gaze went to the simple, hand-drawn sign taped to the front, just to confirm what I already knew.
Freezer 2, it read in faded letters.
Sarren, I thought, feeling an icy chill spread through my veins. What the hell are you planning?
Well, Jackal muttered, crossing his arms. I will say I am officially more disturbed than I was when we first started. I dont know what was in that freezer, but I can hazard a pretty good guess, which just seems all kinds of bad news. His voice was flippant, but his eyes gleamed dangerously. Theres no cure here, thats for certain. So, I guess the million-dollar question iswhat would a brilliantly insane psychotic vampire want with a live virus, and where is he taking it now?
Sarren had the Red Lung virus. The thought was chilling. What did he want with it? Where was he going? And how did Kanin figure into everything? At a loss, I looked down at the forgotten journal, at the unfinished entry on the last page.
I pray that this can be stopped. I pray that the team in New Covington is already working on a way to counter this. The lab there was designed to go into stasis if anything happened. It may be our only salvation now.
May God forgive us.
And I knew.
The journal dropped from my hands, hitting the floor with a thump. I felt Jackals eyes on me, but I ignored him, dazed from the realization. If Sarren wanted to use that virus, there was only one other place he could go. The place Id sworn I would never return to.
New Covington, I whispered, as the path loomed unerringly before me, pointing back to where it all began. I have to go home.
PART II
CHAPTER 5
There were no spotlights up on the Wall.
In New Covington, the Outer Wall was the citys shield, lifeline and best defense, and everyone knew it. The thirty-foot monstrosity of steel, iron and concrete was always lit up at night, with spotlights sliding over the razed ground in front of it and guards marching back and forth up top. It circled the entire city, protecting New Covington from the mindless horrors that lurked just outside, the only barrier between the humans and the ever-Hungry rabids. It was the one thing that kept the Prince in power. This was his city; if you wanted to live behind his Wall, under his protection, you had to consent to his rules.
In my seventeen years of living in New Covington, the Wall had never once been abandoned.
Something is wrong, I muttered as Jackal and I stood on the outskirts of the kill zone, the flat, barren strip of ground that surrounded the Wall. Pits, mines and coils of barbed wire covered that rocky field, making it deadly to venture into. Spotlightsblinding beams of light that were rumored to have ultraviolet bulbs in them to further discourage rabids from coming closeusually scanned the ground every fifty feet. They were dark now. Nothing moved out in the kill zone, not even leaves blowing across the barren landscape. The Wall is never unmanned. Not even during lockdowns. They always keep the lights on and the guards patrolling, no matter what.
Yeah? Jackal scanned the Wall and kill zone skeptically. Well, either the Prince is getting lazy, or Sarren is wreaking his personal brand of havoc inside. Im guessing the latter, unless this Prince is a spineless tool. He glanced at me from where he was leaning against a tree trunk. Who rules New Covington anyway? I forgot.
Salazar, I muttered.
Oh, yeah. Jackal snorted. Little gypsy bastard, from what Kanin told me. One of the older bloodlines, prided himself on being royal, for all the good it did him here. He pushed himself off the tree and raised an eyebrow. Well, this was your city, once upon a time, sister. Should we walk up to the front gate and ring the doorbell, or did you have another way in?
We cant just walk across the kill zone. I backed away from the edge, heading into the ruins surrounding the Wall, the rows of dilapidated houses and crumbling streets. There were still mines and booby traps and other nasty things, even if the Wall wasnt being patrolled. But I knew this city. Id been able to get in and out of it pretty consistently, back when I was human. The sewers below New Covington ran for miles, and werent filled with rabids like the Old D.C. tunnels. The sewers, I told Jackal. We can get into the city by going beneath the Wall.
The sewers, huh? Why does this not surprise me? Jackal followed me up the bank, and we wove our way through the tall weeds and rusted hulks of cars at the edge of the kill zone, back into the ruins. You couldnt have mentioned this on the way?
I ignored him, both relieved and apprehensive to be back. It had taken us the better part of a month, walking from Old D.C. across the ravaged countryside, through plains and forest and countless dead towns, to reach the walls of my old home. In fact, it wouldve taken us even longer had we not stumbled upon a working vehicle one night. The jeep, as Jackal called it, had cut down our travel time immensely, but I still feared wed taken too long. I hadnt had any dreams to assure me that Kanin was still alive, though if I concentrated, I could still feel that faint tug, urging me on.
Back to New Covington. The place where it all began. Where Id died and become a monster.