Fear the Reaper
Episode 8
COPYRIGHT 2020 MS LEWIS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Reaper surfaced, his arm locked around Jack’s neck. Topaz surfaced with hers locked around a gator’s. The two twisted, then vanished beneath the black water.
Briar swore and dove in, found them spiraling downward, and swam deep to catch up. How deep was this damned pit? She got close enough to grab the beast by the tail and yanked with everything she had, then turned right side up and locked her arms around broad tail. Holding on, she swam upward. All the gator’s strength was in its tail. She burst from the water dragging the gator with her.
Let go on three. She shared the count with Topaz, mind to mind. All three splashed down separately, Briar and Topaz scrambling up over the side before the gator could get its bearings.
Hands on her knees, head down, Briar said, “We’re even.”
“That was very impressive.” The voice was female and mortal. They both lifted their heads to see a chalk white woman with too much gel in her short, steel-gray hair. Her brows were ghosts and the only color on her face was the bright red lipstick. She wore black pants with sharp creases—Briar would lay odds she called them slacks–a black button down shirt, and a skinny black tie. There were DPI goons around her in their riot-gear-looking garb holding tranquilizer guns on the others. Jack was sitting, knees up, head kind of loose on his neck. Reaper and Seth stood on either side of him, all protective, but Burke was looking at Briar in stark terror.
You have to pretend to be one of them, She reminded him. Tell her you’ll take us to our cells.
“Shall I take the captives down to the stable, General?”
General Hair Gel frowned at him for a moment, then she said, “No. I’m going to do the honors myself. Herd them along for me, Burke. You three other men, get that cage out of the pit.”
She pulled a small handgun, waved it at the vampires. “Experimental bullets,” she said. “Once they penetrate flesh, they release a blast of simulated sunlight. It’s not fatal, but it’ll make you wish it was. Move, all of you."
They moved. Jack got up onto his feet, moved up beside Topaz. They were both dripping wet. Seth fell in behind them. Briar saw his jacket wiggle, and quickly moved closer to block the General’s view.
Reaper walked slightly behind Briar putting himself between her and the General's weapon of cruel genius. Sunshine bullets. Only a monster would think of something that evil. Burke walked right beside Reaper, like he had to be just as close to Briar as he was. Jack stumbled, and it caught my attention.
Good to see you, Jack, I said. You okay?
Define okay. He sent me a sarcastic side-eye, and I knew he’d be all right. Thanks for coming, even though I wish you hadn’t.
“Forward,” the general ordered. “Through the first passage, then left at the end.”
Everyone moved into the passage. It was dark as pitch, but of course, we could see fine. For example, I saw a red fox wiggle her way out the bottom of Seth’s jacket and zip quickly away from us, taking the left at the end long before we did.
In the main hall the floor, I realized, sloped downward, so as we moved forward, we were also spiraling deeper into the earth. Eventually the General said, “Right, through the second tunnel.”
We all obeyed, moving slowly, taking in everything, seeing everything, hearing, and feeling, and sensing everything. I’d counted two dozen unique mortals so far, and then something hit me so powerfully it brought me to a halt and my head came up.
The others had all stopped as well, feeling what I had.
One of the Chosen was near.
Here? Working for them? Topaz asked without speaking.
Or maybe a captive, like us, Seth suggested.
Maybe he doesn’t know what he is. Maybe they don’t, either.
“Why have you stopped? Get moving, don’t make me use this thing.”
They got moving.
At the end of the tunnel, a young man stood. Black cargo pants, olive drab T shirt straining to hold him. He looked as if he spent half his life in a gym. Dark hair, and eyes so blue they didn’t seem real.
He held his weapon across his chest as they emerged from the far side of the tunnel into an open area with steel doors around the outside.
He’s not the one. Briar caught a glimpse of red fur disappearing into the shadows behind the broad central concrete pillar. Which, Briar realized, wasn’t a pillar at all, but part of the gator pool. And then she sensed the Chosen moving away from them, just glimpsed him from behind as he moved through another tunnel back toward the spiral hall.
Follow him, Vixen, I said.
I’d prefer you didn’t, Vixen. Reaper sent me a sideways apology with his eyes. We need her here. _
_ If they find out what he is…
_ They probably already know…
_ But what if they don’t? We can’t leave him here, Reaper.
He lifted his head, met my eyes briefly, and then one by one, the others, Vixen last. She was sticking to the shadows, but she read his nod, and scampered off after the young man.
“Cell two, Burke,” the General said. “It’s the biggest. Open it up,”
Do as she says and say yes Ma’am or whatever, I thought at him quickly. Be convincing.
“Yes, Ma’am, General Merrick.” He moved ahead of them toward a shiny steel door with a screen beside it, then waved his wristband in front of the screen.
The cell door opened, and he turned and stood beside it facing them. The General said, “Inside.”
Reaper’s face changed. It was time then. He said, “I think you should go inside, instead, General Merrick.” Then he spun around and snatched her weapon with one hand, and flung her into the cell with his other, all faster than her eyes could even see him move. He didn’t close the door after her, though. She was picking herself up off the floor as if she wasn’t sure what had just happened.
The vampires took off their cuffs and removed their masks. They were really hungry.
#
Briar didn’t feel bad about leaving the general’s bloodless husk behind in a dark cell. When you drink, you get more than just the blood. You get a lot more. Images, memories, the panicked, dying thoughts, the regrets. You know how they say your life flashes before your eyes when you’re dying? Well, when you’re a vampire, you witness that. It’s a flash, a zip file downloading all at once, but you see it all. You get it all. If they hadn’t, they’d probably have left her alive.
They took her wristband, and then Briar turned to Burke.
He was standing there, staring at her, his eyes confused, horrified, and suffering as he pressed one hand to his no-doubt throbbing head.
"Is there another way out of here, Burke?"
His head snapped up fast, like he was surprised to hear her voice in his. He said, “go back to the main hall and take the next tunnel down,” and then he frowned as if he couldn’t believe he had complied.
“It’s okay," Briar told him. "You’re gonna be okay. You just need to sleep it off.” She took his weapons and wristband quick before he could make sense of what was happening, then shuffled him into the big cell with the general. “Thanks for everything. I’ll make sure somebody knows where to find you. And remember, you’re working for the bad guys. Get away from them as soon as you can.”
She closed the door as he dropped to his knees from what she’d heard described as a hangover on crack, then turned to the others.
They were all looking at her like she’d kicked a puppy. Which she guessed she kind of had. She shrugged one shoulder. "I stand by my decision.” Then, Vixen, where are you?
Following the Chosen. We’re heading outside. I won’t be able to communicate mentally once the door close–
There was no more, and Briar could only assume the door had closed, and DPI’s telepathy blocking forcefield was once again in place. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Reaper had the General’s gun. Briar had Burke’s forked prod. They headed back into the tunnel and through it into the corridor, heading downhill to the next tunnel and through it. At the end was a green steel door with a panel beside it.
Briar moved Burke’s wristband in front of the panel, and the door make a clacking sound. Then she took hold of the handle and pulled it slowly open.
Fresh air touched her face, and she saw vines and trees and marsh reeds swaying. “All we have to do is get through that damned electric fence, and we are home free. Let’s go.”
She took a single step forward, and suddenly there was an ear-splitting, high pitched blast that repeated over and over.
A disembodied voice said, “Code Red. Subjects loose in the facility. Code Red," in the same voice you'd use to read soothe a fussy baby.
They looked at each other for an instant, realizing someone had already found Burke and the General, and then they ran full out. They ran for their lives.
One more episode to go!
