JULIE
What a clusterfuck! Julie Powers grimaced as Robert, AKA Bravo, tightened the bandage on her leg. It was a through and through he told her. Apparently that was a good thing, as long as it missed the femoral artery, better at least than having a bullet lodged in her leg. She really couldn't understand at that moment how anything could be better than the searing pain that was shooting straight from her leg into her brain. Robert had chastised her for calling him by name when they were out in the street, but goddammit how were you supposed to think straight when you'd just been shot? Julie was beginning to think coming on this expedition was a huge mistake.
It had really been Robert's idea. He was her boyfriend, and had introduced her to Anastasia Duke, the leader of the Humanity First movement. Julie had lived in Harper Rock for about a year, and in that time, she had never seen any evidence of vampires (it still sounded ludicrous, talking about them like they were real). But Robert, who had lived here most of his life, had assured her that they were, and the other members of Humanity First reinforced this belief. Julie, who was originally from Michigan, had joined the US Army right out of high school, relying on the GI Bill to get her through college. She had worked with munitions and explosives in that time, before eventually being discharged. The time she had spent in the military had left her fairly jaded when it came to the supposed altruism of US foreign policy, and so after college, she had traveled to Ontario for work. She was even considering becoming a full-blown ex-pat. She had met Robert in Toronto, where they had begun dating, and eventually he convinced her to move back to Harper Rock with him and get a job there. And that was when he had discovered Humanity First.
She would have considered the whole group nothing but a bunch of crackpots, but she trusted Robert, and he had assured her that it was all real: the vampires, the zombies, other, even less describable creatures. They had shown her pictures from inside the Quarantine Zone; video feed of vampires caught in the act with their victims. Ultimately, Julie had come around. And now here she was, blowing up buildings for Humanity First, and getting shot in the process. She had never taken a bullet the entire time she had been in the military.
Goddammit! she groaned mentally.
She and Robert had been teamed up with another woman, Karen. They were given the task of getting into the Quarantine Zone through the sewers (something Karen apparently already knew how to do, though god knew how) and bombing several buildings in the hopes of driving the blood sucking vermin out into the daylight, where presumably they would be burnt to a crisp. Karen would take point. (With a katana of all things! Didn't they have guns where she was from?) Robert would provide cover with his AR 15. And Julie, well, she would plant the bombs. It seemed like an awfully small force to Julie. but Anastasia had assured them that they would have the advantage of surprise, and that, if they stayed in the daylight, there would be very little risk of actual interaction with vampires. In spite of that, amongst themselves, Julie, Robert, and Karen had decided on code names and masks, in order to avoid any possible repercussions from being identified. And so Julie became Alpha (prompting a joke from Karen about alpha females), Robert became Bravo, and Karen became Charlie. And then everything went to hell.
They were supposed to wire several buildings to blow in succession, starting with a movie theatre and ending with the old Corvidae Flats building, which reports indicated was still being used as a residence for vampires. The other buildings were really just shots in the dark; they had no actionable evidence that vampires were residing in them, but what the hell, even if they missed the vamps, maybe they could blow a few zombies apart. When Julie triggered the first explosion, Robert had been standing guard by the supermarket, and Karen had moved on to scout their next target, the asylum. But apparently someone had actually been in the movie theatre. And apparently that someone wasn't too thrilled about getting blown up. As she was running to her next target, Julie had felt what seemed to be a small explosion in her leg. Thankfully, Robert had helped her to an abandoned building to take cover. It was a miracle that the shooter, whoever they were, hadn't taken any more lethal shots at them. They had chosen not to carry comms, a stupid move in hindsight, but they had planned on staying within line of sight of each other, so that the comm couldn't be potentially used against them in a hostage situation. But Karen had botched that plan by running too far ahead. Now she was off at the asylum doing god knew what, while Julie was laying there bleeding on a dirty floor. Julie was worried that something might have happened to her, and told Robert as much, but Robert had assured Julie that Karen was able to take care of herself.
How do you know? Julie had thought morosely. She had started to suspect that Robert and Karen were screwing.
"
Holy ****! Check this out!" Robert was looking out onto the street through the dirty window of the abandoned building they had taken shelter in. Julie was about to angrily remind him that she had been shot in the leg, and couldn't just go running over there the second he saw something cool, but she was cut off by Robert describing what appeared to be a female vampire running
into the flaming theatre. She listened raptly as soon he began describing another blood sucker make a dash for it. And then his voice dropped low. "
Oh ****," he said. "
They got her. They got Karen." He didn't bother to use her code name. Julie asked what he meant, but Robert seemed too distraught to answer, so gritting her teeth through the pain, she hobbled over to the window to look. She saw a male figure who obviously wasn't Karen wearing gear that was obviously hers.
Julie's eyes narrowed. They needed a plan. The vamps had done exactly the opposite of what they had been planning for, running into the burning building instead of out of it. She turned to Robert. "
Hey, we need to talk about how to finish this." Robert was slouched against the wall despondently, his head in his hands. The assault rifle lay forgotten by his side. Julie was getting angry.
"
Hey fucknuts!" she growled at him. "
We have a goddamn mission to finish, and I am not going to die out here!" She kicked him. "
Get the **** up!"
"
Ow, hey, what the hell?" Robert glowered at her, but he got to his feet and grabbed his rifle.
"
We have four confirmed vampires in that building right now," Julie gestured toward the burning theatre. "
I don't know what the hell they're doing in there, but we need to either get them out, or burn the whole place down around their ears." She was disturbed by the fact that three creatures who supposedly were destroyed by sunlight had just run down a daylit street, but she was still hoping that prolonged exposure would do the trick. If she was lucky, all three of them, as well as the one she had blown up, were in a world of hurt right now.
"
We are going to go round to the back, where there are probably emergency exits, wire them, and blow them. Then we are going to take cover, sit back, and pick them off as they come out. Or, if no one comes out, we sift through the ashes. Either way, I'd say taking out four vampires earns us a ticket home today. Now can you do this, or not?"
Robert stared at her for a moment, then nodded his affirmation, pulling his balaclava back over his face. Julie nodded back at him, doing the same. When this was over, she was definitely breaking up with him.
They grabbed their gear and headed toward the back of the cineplex.
STRYGE
His world was a haze of colors, mostly dark, and pain, mostly internal. Nonetheless, he was able to swim through both towards a light that beckoned him, a fluttering light that matched the fluttering of his own eyelids. For a second, he hovered on the brink of consciousness. He felt his body being carried, bouncing around, each jerk and tug exacerbating the pain that ate at him. Still, for a moment, he was able to gasp the first thing that came to mind, the driving thought that had pushed his subconsciousness to the brink of consciousness. "
Cut down the curtains" he whispered hoarsely. He had no desire to burn to death outside. And then, once more, his mind was dragged down to the murky depths, and he spoke no more.