Chapter 5
Mac sat in the TX-1’s co-pilot seat next to Hank. Mac didn’t have a clue how to fly the transport, but he didn’t need to with Hank there. There was no one in the world better with machines and technology than Hank; he was the only known tele-mechanic alive. Hank had designed the company’s Psi-mechs and the power cores that made them work. He’d also designed and built the TX-1, along with almost all the company’s advanced weapons, vehicles, and gadgets. Hank took pride in his work, but he was always searching for ways to make it better.
“Thanks for flying back with me,” Hank said.
“No problem, sir,” Mac answered.
“You don’t have to call me sir, Mac.” Hank looked over at the thick-shouldered mech pilot. “I’m not Scott.”
“Copy that!” Mac said with a laugh.
An alarm light flashed and beeped on the console.
“What’s that?” Mac asked, his laughter brought to a sudden end.
“Proximity alarm,” Hank answered. “Looks like we’ve got company.”
“What?” Mac asked, shocked. “You’re kidding.”
“Afraid not,” Hank told him. “Two bogies closing fast on us from the rear.”
“But we’ve got clearance to be here!” Mac protested.
“I didn’t say they were human bogies!” Hank shouted. “Hold on!”
Hank took the TX-1 down hard, its nose plunging toward the ground. The transport spun as it streaked down through a patch of clouds. With another jerk of the controls, Hank leveled the transport out and pumped power to its engine. The TX-1 shot forward like a missile. Mac was thrown against his seat and pressed there by the G-forces of the maneuver and the transport’s sudden speed.
“Did we lose them?” Mac croaked.
“No,” Hank answered. “They’re still on us. Contact in less than a minute.”
“Holy frag!” Mac exclaimed and found that he could move again. “What are they? How could anything keep up with what you just did?”
“They’re vampires.” Hank tried to hide the panic he was feeling. “Three of them.”
“What the hell are we going to do?” Mac asked. “If they get onboard…”
“We’re going to put up a fight,” Hank promised. “No sense in making it easy for them.”
Hank killed the TX-1’s forward thrust. Through the forward window, Mac saw the vampires flying over and passed it. Almost instantly, Hank activated the TX-1’s forward-facing auto-cannons. Streams of high-powered rounds flew at the three humanoid targets he’d locked onto. Humanoid was an apt description, because there wasn’t anything human about the three creatures. Each had leathery wings that stretched outward from their bodies in about an eight-foot wingspan. Overly large, bat-like ears jutted from the sides of their misshapen skulls. Their hands and feet bore claws that gleamed in the starlight. Fire from the auto-cannons struck the middle of the three creatures. Even inside the transport, Mac could hear the thing’s horrid shrieking as the rounds punched into its back and exploded out of its chest in sprays of black blood. The creature dropped like a stone, disappearing from their limited field of view. The other two creatures veered off, one to each side, dodging the continuous streams of fire from the auto-cannons.
“Oh, crap,” Hank muttered just before loud thuds sounded from both sides of the transport as something crashed into them.
“They’re on us!” Hank warned. “Find a weapon! We’re going to have to deal with them the hard way.”
Mac unsnapped the safety straps that held him to his seat and lunged toward the rear of the transport.
“I’m engaging the autopilot, and I’ll be right behind you!” Hank called out to him.
Most of the TX-1’s rear compartment was devoted to housing the mechs it had been built to transport and the pilots who operated them. There was still room to move about, but Mac felt trapped as he headed for one of the transport’s emergency weapon caches. His fingertips stabbed in the code to unlock it as he heard the sound of screeching metal behind him. One of the two vampires was tearing its way inside. Metal bent and ripped, unable to withstand the monster’s supernatural strength. Air rushed out the rear of the transport, nearly pulling Mac from his feet. He caught hold of the door of the emergency weapons cache as it popped open. The vampire pulled itself into the transport through the hole it had made and came skittering across the ceiling at him, its yellow eyes burning with hate and rage.
Mac yanked a pump-action shotgun free from its bracket inside the cache, but he still held onto the door with his other hand, and there was no way he could ready the weapon with one hand. Hank saved his life; as he rushed into the transport’s rear, he tossed something from his tool belt at the opening the vampire had made. The object grew as it flew through the air toward its target, and it splashed over the hole, sealing it. The maddening pull against Mac from the rushing air stopped instantly, and his body swung to smash into the wall beside the weapons cache.
“Look out!” Hank yelled, and Mac saw the vampire drop from the ceiling to land mere feet from his position. Mac pumped a round into the shotgun’s chamber as he recovered from hitting the wall, but the monster was on him before he could bring the shotgun to bear. A slashing blow from the claws of its right hand sent the shotgun flying from his grasp to clatter onto the floor. Mac ducked as the claws of its other hand came swiping at his face. Sparks flew as they raked over the metal of the wall behind him and tore the door of the emergency weapons cache from its hinges.
Grabbing another shotgun out of the open cache, Mac dropped to the floor and rolled away from the vampire as the creature reared its head back in a scream of fury. Mac came up into a firing position, pumping a round into its chamber as he did so. Mac’s shotgun thundered, and his shot caught the vampire in its stomach, opening the creature’s guts. Strands of blood-slicked intestines burst out of the wound he had blown in the monster. It howled in pain, leaping back up to the ceiling. Its intestines dangled out of it like rotting snakes as the vampire hung there for the span of a heartbeat, then began to pull itself toward him, the claws of one hand sinking into the metal of the ceiling as the other came free to reach forward.
“Shoot it in the head!” Hank ordered.
Mac almost froze up—it was a vampire, not a zombie—but he realized what Hank had to be thinking. Leveling the barrel of his shotgun at the head of the fast-approaching vampire, Mac squeezed the trigger. The heavy silver slug the shotgun fired hammered into the monster’s head at point-blank range, and the vampire’s skull burst apart in a shower of gore. The weight of its body pulled its claws free from the ceiling, and the monster thudded to the floor in front him. Mac wasn’t about to give the thing a chance to get up. He had fought vampires before and knew just how quickly the older ones could regenerate, even from something as devastating as the damage he’d just done to it. Mac pressed the barrel of his shotgun to the center of the monster’s chest and fired again. The vampire’s body thrashed about wildly as the heavy slug went through its heart. The shotgun’s slugs were silver, not wood, so it wasn’t dead, and Mac knew it, but that much silver going into its heart would frag it up for a good while, though. Not to mention, the thing had to grow back its head, too.
“Where the hell is the other one?” Hank shouted, having made it to the open emergency weapons cache and snatched a stake gun from it. The stake gun was a three-barrel weapon that fired wooden stakes from its rotating barrels. It was a weapon Hank had designed that was meant to put a vampire down for good with a single shot.
“Frag me if I know,” Mac yelled, keeping a close eye on the mess of the vampire still twitching at his feet. “Get over here and finish this one, sir!”
Hank darted over and fired a stake into the monster’s regenerating chest. The vampire’s body erupted in flames and burned away into ash.
Both Mac and Hank’s heads whipped around toward the front of the TX-1 as they heard the sound of shattering glass. The other vampire had come aboard through the transport’s forward window. It came strolling out of the pilot’s compartment with the confident swagger of a being who knew it was immortal. The vampire closed the door behind it as it laughed at them. The monster couldn’t have possibly been one of the three that had been chasing the transport, and Hank wondered where it had come from. Had it been waiting in the clouds until the more bestial creatures had faced the TX-1’s weapons systems and gotten aboard to keep them from firing at it? Regardless, that meant there was at least one more of the monstrous creatures nearby, two if the one the forward autocannons had shot down had managed to catch up to the transport after its wounds had healed. The vampire’s black hair was pulled into a tight ponytail that flopped down the human-looking vampire’s back between its shoulders. Its skin was so pale it was almost translucent, and its fangs glistened as its lips parted in a sinister smile.
“I like it when my food fights back, humans,” the vampire chuckled.
Hank fired his stake gun, aiming at the vampire’s heart, but one of its pale hands whipped out to catch the stake in midair. The vampire grinned and tossed it aside. “If that’s the best you can do, though, I am going to be really disappointed. Your little company is the stuff of legends among monsters. I was expecting more from you.”
“Oh, we’re just getting started,” Hank promised. “Hit him, Mac!”
Mac’s fired his shotgun at the creature, pumped a fresh round, and fired again. The vampire moved with incredible speed, dodging his first shot. The slug pinged against the door behind where it had been standing and ricocheted around the rear of the TX-1 as the vampire’s cackling laughter echoed within the compartment. The vampire streaked toward Hank as Mac’s second shot flew over its outstretched body.
“Frag you!” Hank screamed at the monster, firing his stake gun point-blank at its skull. The vampire jerked its head aside and the wooden projectile missed its target to shatter against a suit of empty Psi-mech armor. Hank threw himself away from the vampire’s path at the last moment, and he managed to avoid being slammed into the wall by the monster, but the claws of its left hand ripped the flesh of his side. Hank cried out in pain as he dove to the floor, and he lay there clutching his side, blood pouring through the fingers of the hand he had pressed over the wound.
Mac’s shotgun clicked empty as he tried to shoot the vampire in the back. Cursing, he threw it aside. The vampire was between him and the weapons cache. Mac ran toward his Psi-mech where it was housed. The suit’s leg was still busted, and a lot of its systems were fragged, but he was desperate. The Psi-mech’s chest parted, opening as he drew near it, responding to the command his fingers tapped into the remote access bracelet he wore like a gauntlet on his lower right arm.
The vampire leaped across the rear compartment, landing between him and his Psi-mech. It wagged a finger at him. “None of that now, little man,” the vampire chuckled as it blocked his path. Mac couldn’t stop his momentum. He’d been running toward the mech in a full out sprint, and he crashed into the vampire, managing to knock it backward. Realizing he’d gained the initiative, Mac hammered the vampire with clenched fists. He rained blow after blow onto the flailing monster. His right hand smashed into the side of its mouth, knocking out several of its teeth in a splatter of black, rotting blood. It took only a second for the vampire to recover from its surprise, though, and to bring Mac’s rampaging fury to an end. The vampire threw a single punch at him, and its clenched fist struck his stomach, plunging into it and out his back. Mac grunted as blood was forced up and out of his mouth. His mouth hung open with wet strands of red spit dangling from his lips as he stared into the vampire’s blazing yellow eyes. From what seemed like millions of miles away, Mac heard Hank yelling his name. The vampire yanked its fist out of him in an explosion of blood as it pulled a piece of his spinal column out of his body through his guts. Mac wanted to see his friends one final time, listen to his favorite song, enjoy a good burger just off the grill, but none of that was going to happen. Mac was dead, and he knew it. His corpse thudded to the floor of the rear compartment as the world went dark.
Hank had managed to crawl to the emergency weapons cache while Mac engaged the vampire, drawing its attention. Mac was dead, and he was alone with the monster. The vampire stood over Mac’s twisted body with a wide grin on its lips as it looked in his direction.
“Don’t make the same mistake your comrade made,” the vampire warned him. “I am not here to kill you.”
“Sure looks like it to me,” Hank said, but he knew the vampire was telling the truth. Everything that had happened so far pointed to the vampire wanting someone or something aboard the TX-1. Hank shuddered as he realized he was likely what it was after. He could almost hear Ms. Grimm telling him how stupid it was for him to go into the field. So much of what kept the company running and in the war rested with him, and Hank knew it. If the vampire took him to its master and he was turned, the company wouldn’t have a prayer against them. Hank screamed for help inside his mind as he tried to keep the vampire talking. “Anyway, you’ve got the wrong man. That guy you just murdered was…”
“He was nothing, human,” the vampire sneered. “I can feel the power within you. You’re the psychic I was sent after.”
Hank had retrieved a Glock loaded with silver bullets from the weapons cache. It was the only weapon he could reach without getting to his feet, and the pain in his ravaged side kept him from doing that. He readied the weapon and the vampire allowed him to, appearing to be completely unthreatened by the small pistol.
The vampire strolled calmly toward him. “If you shoot me with that, you will suffer for it. The master said nothing about injuring you, only to make sure you were brought to him alive.”
Thinking better of raising the pistol at the vampire, Hank said, “I’m telling you, you’ve got the wrong guy.”
The vampire ignored his words and continued to walk over to him. It reached and plucked the pistol from his trembling hand. The vampire’s fingers closed around the weapon. Metal crunched and folded inward from the pressure of the vampire’s grip. It tossed the destroyed pistol away and looked down at him. “I would prefer to take you to my master aboard this ship. Trust me, you would prefer that, too. The other option is, I allow my flyers to carry you. As tame as they are, accidents still happen.”
Hank laughed. “You must not be able to count. Two of your flyers are dead, dude.”
The vampire’s eyes flared, growing brighter with anger. “Watch your tongue, human, before I remove it from your mouth. Now get onto your feet and into the pilot’s compartment.”
“I can’t get up, you bastard,” Hank told the vampire, pulling up his shirt to show the creature just how badly it had torn up his side.
With a sigh, the vampire said, “You humans are such frail things. I’ll never understand how I managed to stay alive as long as I did as one of you.”
“There’s a first aid kit in that hatch above you,” Hank said. “Get it out and toss it to me.”
The vampire shook its head. “You are a clever one, little psychic, but I think not. Perhaps I should just turn you here and now. That would heal your wounds and make you much more agreeable, as well.”
“Cute that you think I’d let you do that.” Hank snorted. “I’ll die before I allow you to turn me. Besides, I think your master would be a bit upset with you if you did so before delivering me to him.”
“Perhaps,” the vampire admitted, “though it would make no difference in regard to your fate.”
“Just get the fragging first aid kit and toss it to me,” Hank yelled. “I’ll patch myself up, and we can get on our way to your master already!”
Hank had no intention of delivering not only himself but the TX-1 to the thing’s master, but he did need medical treatment for his wounds, and fast. He was losing too much blood, and the wound in his side hurt like hell.
“I’m not falling for your trap, little psychic.” The vampire shook its head. “I don’t know what’s in the hatch above me, but if you want me to open it so much, surely it can’t be anything I want to face.”
“It’s just a first aid kit, you idiot!” Hank shouted.
The vampire ignored him and reached down to take hold of the front of his shirt. Crumpling up the cloth of the shirt in its fingers, the vampire lifted him effortlessly from the floor. “You will fly this ship to where we need to go now, or I will turn you, little psychic.”
A shimmering flash of light exploded in the rear compartment of the TX-1, causing the vampire to let go of him. Hank tumbled back onto the floor with a grunt of pain.
“That’s the trap, you smeghead!” Hank laughed despite the pain he was in, pointing at the dimensional doorway that had just opened.
Eddie and Scott emerged from the portal as the vampire spun around to face them. The psycho-porter had a stake gun slung over his shoulder and his trademark automatic shotgun clutched in his hands. Scott was armed with an Uzi, which chattered furiously as the mech pilot emptied its magazine into the vampire standing over Hank. The vampire jerked about as Scott’s bullets tore and ripped at its flesh, riddling its body with holes. Scott’s Uzi clicked empty. The vampire was still on its feet, but it was reeling and had to be hurting like hell; the wounds from Scott’s silver bullets wouldn’t be healing anytime soon.
Pressing one arm against his wounded side, Hank used his other arm and his feet to propel himself away from the vampire. Hank knew the best thing he could do was get out of Eddie and Scott’s way.
While Scott had hosed the monster with his Uzi, Eddie had holstered his shotgun on his back and unslung his stake gun from his shoulder. Leveling the weapon’s barrel at the vampire’s chest, Eddie took his shot. The stake flew straight and true into the monster’s heart. It was too wounded to attempt to dodge the stake or snatch it from the air. The wood of the stake punched through its sternum, sinking into the muscle of the heart behind it. The vampire gave a high-pitched squeal as flames erupted all over its body, and it burned away into nothingness.
“There’s a flyer outside!” Hank warned Eddie and Scott.
“Doesn’t matter,” Eddie told him. “We’re not staying!”
Scott yanked Hank up to his feet, bearing the bulk of the tele-mechanic’s weight as Hank put an arm over his shoulders.
Sensing the death of its master, the flyer came crashing through the side wall of the TX-1’s rear compartment. Shards of metal flew like shrapnel exploding into the air, but they disappeared into one of the two new doorways Eddie had conjured up. The other was directly in the flyer’s path, and the shards of metal were redirected into it. The flyer shrieked in pain as the shards stabbed into its chest, face, and arms.
“Eddie!” Scott yelled at the psycho-porter. “Forget that thing, man!”
The two doorways vanished as Eddie formed another one and the three of them darted through it to step out into the mech hangar of the company’s Alaskan headquarters. Eddie turned back to the doorway and tossed a fragmentation grenade through it before it closed.
Letting his stake gun dangle by its strap from the middle of his left arm, Eddie dusted his hands. “And that takes care of that.”
“If you’re done gloating,” Hank rasped, “could someone please find Mercy for me?”
Mercy and Sharpton were already coming across the mech hangar to meet them. While Mercy’s expression was one of concern, Sharpton’s was a flat out scowl.
“What did I tell you about going out into the field?” Sharpton snapped at Hank.
“Hey man, ease off!” Scott stepped forward to meet Sharpton and looked as if he was about to deck the senior telepath.
“You know as well as any of us, Scott, what losing him would cost this company!” Sharpton bellowed.
Mercy had reached Hank and placed a hand on his side. The psycho-metabolist’s eyes were closed as she did her work, healing Hank’s wound. The pain faded from Hank’s body as his wounds closed beneath Mercy’s palm. As his strength returned, the tele-mechanic stood up straight with Mercy still touching him.
“Ms. Grimm gave me clearance herself, you prick!” Hank challenged Sharpton. “And I made it back, didn’t I?”
“But what if you hadn’t?” Sharpton said more calmly, meeting Hank’s angry glare. “What if I hadn’t heard your mental cry for help? What if Eddie had been out in the field and unreachable? You’re too important to be taking risks like this, Hank.”
“It’s not your call, you miserable piece of…” Hank’s insult was cut off by the voice of Katherine Grimm as she came walking up to them all.
“You’re right, Hank,” she told him. “It’s mine.”
Hank tore his eyes away from Sharpton and his head whipped around toward her. “I understand that, but…”
Katherine Grimm held up a hand, silencing the tele-mechanic, and shook her head sadly. “I hate to say it, Hank, but this time, Sharpton’s right. There’s an endless amount of work for you to do here, anyway.”
“But…” Hank stammered.
“My decision has been made, Hank,” Katherine told him firmly.
The tele-mechanic’s shoulders slumped. He wasn’t dumb enough to argue with Katherine Grimm.
“I’m not saying you have to sit things out forever, Hank,” she said, trying to comfort him, “but I do believe you resuming your full time duties here is the best thing for now. Mavet’s still out there, and if he gets you, that would mean game over for all of us.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Hank nodded.
Mercy removed her hand from Hank’s side. “You’re good to go,” she said.
“Thanks.” Hank smiled at the redhead.
“And if you make me come after you without a suit again,” Scott spoke up, half joking, to cut the cloud of tension that hung over them all, “I’ll kill you myself.”
Everyone but Sharpton laughed. Even Katherine Grimm chuckled at the Psi-mech pilot’s mock fury.
“Now, Eddie,” Katherine said, “Ringer and Tonya are waiting for you. I think they’ve been held up enough.”
“No rest for the wicked or the elderly.” Eddie grunted in Scott’s direction. “Thanks for the assist in bringing our super nerd home.”
“Anytime.” Scott smiled.
“Super nerd?” Hank glanced at Scott. “Really? That’s what you guys are calling me now?”
“If the shoe fits…” Scott’s smile twisted into a wry grin.
“I believe everyone here has work to attend to,” Katherine Grimm said, interrupting them before Hank could say anything else. She watched the small group disperse and then headed for her office. There was work waiting there for her, too.
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