Vampire's Day (Book 1): Epicenter (9 page)

35. Jimenez in the operations center

She briefly fell asleep, leaning her head on the cold gray wall. She dreamed of shots, cars and shots again, and then she dreamed that she was sitting on a small metal chair in a narrow corridor of a strange building in the city center.

Opening her eyes, she found herself sitting on a small metal chair in a narrow corridor. There were no people near, just a series of closed steel door, with one soldier in a black uniform and an opaque helmet on duty at the fire exit, occasionally glancing out the window.

Jimenez slowly got up and went to the Japanese coffee machine, which seemed to still be working. The coffee in it no longer exists, but there is a tea that she usually can’t stand. Well, in an emergency, tea was good enough, especially with lots of sugar.

Sipping tea, she asked the soldier.

“Brother, how long should I sit here?”

“I don’t know, officer, I don’t know.”

“What's happening on the street?”

“Fuck up.”

“Can I see?”

Los Angeles burned. Flames rose over private houses, burst from the windows of apartment buildings, smoke drifted through the streets. And there was screaming. And shooting, a lot of shooting. Ten floors below, on an empty parking lot in a semicircle, were five armored Humvees and military vehicles on tracks, similar to a small tank. Before it were a few burned cars and many bodies, four dozen or so.

“How much time? Wow, I slept almost two hours.”

She suddenly saw an Apache flying between the burning blocks
.
Rapid white line stretched to him from the burning houses, helicopter shuddered as if struck the wall and began to fall, slowly at first, then faster and faster.

“Fuck, the second in an hour! Get down!”

The soldier threw her on the floor, as a short round hit the glass. Jimenez realized that this time she was not threatened – the armored glass was intact, although covered with small chips.

“Coming closer, bitches.”

“Who is coming?”

“Smart vampires. They follow the crazies, as behind the shield. Looks like we already under siege. It is good what they don’t have an RPG. Still don’t have.”

Behind the door opened, and in the corridor was a nervous girl in a uniform without insignia.

“Officer Jimenez? Come here, they are waiting for you!”

“At last!”

She went into the headquarters, full of computers and people in uniform. On a separate table, there are two men, one white, one black, both in the same expensive suits.

“Officer Jimenez? Very glad to see you.” The white man extended his hand. “I am Mr. Smith, and this is my partner, Mr. Jones, no need to know the real names We are very grateful to you for the rifle that you brought to us, no one else could do that. And now we have to ask you again for help - please tell us in as much detail as possible about everything that happened to you today.”

“I've already said everything in the car when I drove here, and then a second time, when they brought me here. Why again?”

“Some very important people will hear you now. Look.”

Smith wasn’t mistaken about important people. On a huge screen military and civilian people were looking at her, many of whom she knew and had seen on TV. She had voted for one of them in the last election.

“Miss Jimenez, as far as we know, you're the only police officer who managed to get out of the airport. You were in the midst of an attack from the first minute, but you managed to survive and even took an important trophy. We think it’s extremely important to know your opinion about what is happening, so tell the story of what you went through, we ask you.”

“Well. My watch began at six o'clock.”

She told the important people all that she remembered, hiding nothing and not exaggerating. Told how she heard the alarm, how she shot one of the attackers, who she first thought was just another crazy mass murderer. Told how she took an air rifle, told how she was attacked by civilians and shot three of them. How she got out of the passenger terminal, stole the car from the parking lot and went to the city, where the riots had begun.

She managed to get to the station where they had already lost half the personnel, and the survivors didn’t know what to do. Crews who went to the city on the first panic calls reported riots, mass murder, arson, assault, and fire from air rifles. Reported it and then disappeared.

Several wounded were brought in: a dozen civilians, cops and a nurse from an ambulance, which seemed to have suffered someone trying to chew off her head with teeth. It was the nurse who first attacked them a few minutes’ later, biting right and left. A rookie, who was on his first day, shot her. Ten minutes later they had to shoot him, because the nurse had managed to bite his hand. Soon Jimenez, several cops and civilians barricaded the doorway and fired into her former comrades.

The first infected rushed at them with bare hands, but received a serious armed resistance, some of them returned with rifles and shotguns from the hacked arsenal.

Jimenez didn’t expect to get out of there alive, but the police station defenders received unexpected reinforcements. Soldiers in black uniforms without chevrons attacked the rabid from the rear, killing them all in a couple of minutes with machine-gun fire and grenades. She couldn’t believe it, but they came just for her, for her trophy rifle. Her radio report about what had happened at the airport was heard by someone important. And here she was now, in an unknown government building in the city center.

“I have nothing to say any more. I hope this helps, and you have already developed plans about what to do. I need to know now - someone must tell me what to do.”

36. Personnel

“Clean, the helicopters have moved!”

“Second post – clean. Transport is provided.”

“Roger, open the gate!”

With a roaring engine and throwing out thick diesel smoke, the garbage truck, now modernized and turned into a giant improvised armored vehicle, pulled into the parking lot. Steel sheets of different thickness were on the sides, and there was a roof hatch, from which a thug with a machine gun peered. Before the former garbage truck stopped another homemade pickup with a heavy machine gun in the back, the crew ready to protect the armored vehicle and its valuable cargo.

On underground parking is continuing a fast and efficient selection. Those who had the necessary skills were collected separately, given the first dose, and then sent under guard to the far exit. Many armored trucks and buses arrived here to take these selected to the outskirts, where the prisoner’s team now built shelters. Other trucks are heading to the shelters with equipment and machines - in the LA suburbs soon will be equipped workshops which will provide arms and ammunition for the first time.

Realizing that they were rapidly losing territory, the military would soon begin to destroy the valuable objects with air strikes, so it was necessary to keep away from the factories all that may be useful. New workshops would arise in the midst of the suburbs in inconspicuous-looking apartment buildings – finding and destroying them all would not be easy.

The second group, mostly young men and women, were a specific contingent, almost all of them from street gangs. They also received a dose, although not the usual one. With this dose, there was a high content of pure blood plus a synthetic drug designed specifically for vampires - this combination completely took away the survival instinct. The mixture would be very useful because the infected were easier to command, and could be sent t
o
fight against the army and police. Many of them had their own weapons, and others were armed when three trucks with guns came into the parking lot. A variety of guns had been collected – from looted gun shops, stormed police stations and offices of security firms, trophies from numerous skirmishes.

The third group was special. Infected doctors, firefighters, police officers, urban services engineers. They would not be sent into battle with the bandits, because they were too valuable for that. Doctors and engineers would be hidden on the outskirts of the city; police and firefighters, as well as ex-servicemen and the first infected soldiers would be formed into special battle groups to be applied where the bandits couldn’t cope. They were equipped with the best weapons.

The fourth and last group is all those found unfit for purpose. They were already infected, but had no useful skills, so they could only be used in one way – by bringing their Hunger to such a point that they were ready to go into battle with just their bare hands.

37. Number Three

I didn’t see the shelling with my own eyes before. It sounded tremendous - a moment ago everything was quiet and calm in the enemies’ position, and then the shells generously sowed death and destruction there. And I didn’t believe that it would work! The sailors from USS Virginia worked perfectly, making shot after shot in the areas specified by us.

A minute later the shelling stopped, the sailors realized that they had been deceived. But they had done enough to open our way north, almost completely destroying the military camp, which blocking the highway. Through my binoculars, I saw the burning tent city, wrecked National Guardsmen convoy, overturned cars, and scattered bodies. There was panic in a giant traffic jam in front of the military camp, although only two or three shells fell there at the most. Brilliant.

A red rocket flew into the sky - the signal. I came down from the attic to the trailer and gave the go-ahead to the driver. He lowered the ramp, and the prisoners were revealed. There were many. I pushed them into the trailer without counting, pouring there two liters of fresh blood, which we took from the devastated hospital. They followed the blood into the trailer, and now climb outside. The bait was no longer needed – they could feel the blood of the dead and wounded after the shelling.

They were very hungry, and that was good. Their strong hunger would drown fears and instincts of self-preservation, and they ready go to the fire of war. I can’t command them, they almost lost mind, so I have to rely on primitive reflexes. Like an officer of the First World War, in order to send the soldiers into the attack, I drove them forward using a police whistle. They all liked the whistle, I didn’t know why.

“Forward! Forward!”

The wave moved forward, slowly at first, then faster and faster. Other trucks drop off the cannon fodder, we have reached a discharge point almost lossless, helicopters destroy a single truck. In the giant traffic jam the panic increased - they have seen those who were heading towards them. So, now those who survived the shelling fled toward the military.

From the destroyed camp a machine gun opened fire, then a second, and a third. An automatic grenade launcher started working, our shooters opened fire in response. They shot badly, failing to take advantage of shooting from the roof and upper floors of high-rise buildings. This was not surprising; most of our rookies were streets bandits with little chance against the soldiers. They had never held machine gun before, and now shot in long bursts, spending cartridges foolishly without changing positions. Soldiers took advantage of this; grenade launchers destroyed our shooters one after another. It was good that we hadn’t sent our police there; we couldn’t lose our best men.

“Forward!”

I moved forward, hiding behind cars, avoiding the bodies lying on the pavement. Some of them had already started to rise to join our army. Soldiers shot at hungry, soldier shot at bandits, and they didn’t shoot at me. Other snipers opened fire.

That was the first target – a tanker officer who disappeared in the hatch of his tank. Next shot…

38. Operations Centre 3

“How did they manage it? How did they break our codes?”

“Zero Group has experienced professionals for cyber-attacks and electronic warfare. They prepared for the fact that we would pull reinforcements to LA and decided to use it for their own purposes. It was cleverly devised – they requested fire support, and brought it to our own position. The north quarantine barrier collapsed and now we have to build a new line of defense, so that the infection doesn’t spread further across the state.”

“Where is this hacker?”

“The signal has moved, he is using a car. Helicopters shot a lot of cars on the streets after the imposition of martial law, so he might have been destroyed. But perhaps not.”

“We have confirmed the identify of several bodies from one of the downed aircraft. They were all drug cartel fighters, and all were considered dead or missing.”

“They knew whom to bring into their army - thugs, whose disappearance would not cause any suspicion. The constant wars between cartels and trafficking provided them with the huge amount of blood they needed. So they waited unnoticed for three years, gathering strength and preparing to go to war against us. How much cargo they have dropped?”

“Eighteen light aircraft and drones dropped into the city, some with paratroopers, and some with containers. We managed to pick up two containers - pistols, AK-47, RPG, ammunition. They have MANPADS, and have shot down three of our helicopters and several drones. Some guns previously belonged to the Mexican army. These are now the weapons for the infected; those who agreed to carry out their orders. Those who didn’t agree were killed; we saw that from the air.”

“Order with an iron fist.”

Jimenez was still sat on a small chair, listening to the conversations in the operations center. They were clearly preparing to leave headquarters. Soldiers handed out weapons; officials packed equipment in large metal suitcases and sent a stack of papers into a portable incinerator. There was shooting from beyond the walls, and a couple of times the building shook from nearby explosions. This was a retreat after losing the battle.

“Officer Jimenez, you are coming with us to our people. In the country we will meet up with the army, and I think the Pentagon wants to see you. This is for you.”

Mr. Jones handed her the trophy submachine gun and three full magazines, and then returned her Glock.

“I hope it's not necessary, but we may have to break out of the city with a fight. There are more and more of them, and almost all barriers in Los Angeles have been taken. In any case, good luck.”

“Mr. Jones! Who are they? Who or what attacked our city?”

Mr. Smith looked at Mr. Jones.

“There is no reason to hide the truth, gentlemen, your secrets are ended. If you want me to help you, you have to tell me who we are fighting. What kind of enemy it is?”

Mr. Jones turned to the window and looked for a couple of seconds at the huge, dazzling Californian sun.

“Vampires, Miss Jimenez, vampires. We are in the epicenter of a war with the vampires.”