“I can send the ghosts—”
“Yes, but they can't act against whatever is up ahead.”
I wasn't entirely sure we'd be able to, either—especially if there was no way out of whatever lay ahead other than the tunnel we were now in. No matter what sort of weapons Jonas and his crew might have brought with them, there were simply too many vampires in this place. And the halo lights wouldn’t last forever.
“Ours might not,” he replied, obviously hearing the thought, “but we’ve a good crew behind us, and the equipment they carry will.”
“Yeah, but a dozen people will not win out against an entire den, no matter how damn good they are.”
“They don’t have to erase the entire den. They just have to stop any more vampires accessing the tunnels out of here.”
Which still left us dealing with the hundreds—if not thousands—who’d already poured into the exit tunnel.
Up ahead, light began to burn—bright, fierce light. UV light. But did it represent safety or yet another trap?
Cat, Bear, can you investigate what’s up ahead?
It was better to know than not, even if the reality of the situation was that we had no real choice but to charge into whatever waited. Because the vibrations were getting stronger, the vampires’ attacks more desperate, and the air so thick with ash and brick dust it felt like every breath was filled with death and decay.
One of my guns clicked over to empty. I didn’t stop to reload it; I simply hooked it back onto my belt, reached for another, and kept on firing.
The UV light was now strong enough to start peeling away the darkness, but the vampires remained undeterred. One after the other they threw themselves at us, until the sheer amount of ash raining down on us became a physical weight, and our steps inevitably slowed.
A metal grate came into sight; it covered the entire width of the tunnel, and while there was a gate, it was closed and locked. Jonas barely paused—he simply unloaded shot after shot into the lock until it disintegrated and then kicked it open and ran on.
“Bear? Cat?” I yelled, as I followed Jonas through. “What the hell is happening? What are we running i
nto?”
A big cavern that’s being used as both a store and living quarters, Cat replied. There are four people here, but they sleep.
There’s also another tunnel—a big one, with string lighting rather than UV, Bear added. Do you want us to investigate it?
If they were using simple string lighting in that tunnel, then vampires obviously weren’t a problem—and that, in turn, was a hopeful sign that maybe there was another way in and out of this place. For now, just keep an eye on it and let us know if there’s any movement. Cat, keep an eye on the sleepers and tell us if all the noise we’re making wakes them.
The vampires poured through the gate after us, but the UV light was now so fierce that they quickly became nothing more than a wave of ash and fury. I breathed through clenched teeth in an effort to filter some of their muck from my lungs, and shook the weight of it from my shoulders.
Ten more strides and we were in the heart of that lifesaving brightness. But this was no sewer junction—it was a cavern. A vast, open, but far from empty cavern. The UV lights were sitting in what appeared to be a sort of antechamber, and were both freestanding and hanging on sturdy chains from the ceiling high above. They formed a wide semicircle around the tunnel’s entrance, and the lights on the floor immediately in front of it were well protected against any sort of missile the vampires might have used against them. Beyond the lights were boxes of various shapes and sizes stacked on top of each other, and which formed wooden and plastic skyscrapers that reached for the ceiling. Some of them were marked with government stamps, some of them not. The evil trio had obviously been stocking this place for years, if not decades.
I slid to a stop beside Jonas, the harsh rasp of my breathing making little impact against that odd, masticating sound that ran in time with the vibrations under our feet. It very much sounded like something was eating the rock and earth—and that had trepidation stirring.
There were no signs of guards in this area, no perimeter alarm, and absolutely nothing to indicate any sort of secondary protection had been installed in the immediate area.
“Maybe the evil trio thought the vampires were enough,” Jonas said. He shifted the position of Penny’s body and then added, in a voice that was bleak, “And maybe the trap still awaits ahead. Shall we move on?”
I nodded and cautiously led the way through the UV towers and into the nearest canyon walkway. The boxes on either side were braced by metal and wire, which was undoubtedly necessary given the vibrations were strong enough that the various stacks would probably have collapsed into the walkway without it.
The canyon soon gave away to another open area. This one contained various bits of machinery, big and small, as well as a long series of interconnected buildings. The tunnel opening Bear had mentioned was to the left, and not only was it massive, but looked to be man-made rather than natural.
Cat, where are the sleepers?
End building to your right, she replied. They show no signs of waking.
Anyone else about?
No.
Bear?