He cringes. “Oh god. No.”
“It’s a natural reaction, Marcus. It’s my body’s way of saying that you’re an adequate specimen.”
“Specimen? What are you going to do with me when you’re done with me? Dissect me?”
“I mean, I can’t say I haven’t thought of it. I’d love to know what makes you so evil.”
He shakes his head. “Nothing.”
“Fine, fine.” And look at how awesome I am at making him forget what he originally asked. “So did she have any more information about this place?”
“Just said the man mentioned it.”
“I wonder if they’re transporting the drug that makes the vampires go crazy. Are they planning on spreading it using the shipping center?” I ask.
“I don’t think they know. Call up Smith and tell her we’re about ten minutes away. Then figure out her location.”
“Got it,” I say as I pull my phone out and call Smith before putting it on speaker so Marcus can hear. Although… maybe he can hear it not on speaker with his hound hearing.
“Hey, Hayes,” she says as a greeting.
“We’re about ten minutes away. Where are you guys?”
“We just got here, but we’ll wait for you guys before we do anything. Wren thinks he sees a good vantage point to keep an eye on the center.”
“How’d you figure this out?” I ask.
“The cop who is watching over Hank said he’d been very anxious since we left. He kept questioning what was going to happen to him. I guess at about seven, he broke. It sounds like he wanted to talk to someone and let it slip about this place. Well, not this place exactly, but he said distribution center and this was the closest one to the area he was talking about.”
“Okay. Did he say anything else of interest?”
“Eh… not much. Just went on and on about how he didn’t think he deserved to go to jail for this. Stuff about how he was helping the world to open their eyes.” She sighs. “It just kills me that they think they’re doing this to save the humans, but he literally killed humans to make a point.”
“I think they’re blind to what they’re doing. They have the whole ‘greater good’ thing going on and they don’t mind what sacrifices they have to make to achieve it.”
She sighs again. “I guess.”
“We’re just a few minutes away now.”
“Oh! Right. So as you’re pulling onto the lane, there’s a small road off to the left just before the gate. Cut your lights and head down it. We’re a couple hundred feet off the lane.”
“Got it.”
I hang up with her as Marcus kills his lights and turns left. It’s dark out, but there are enough lights around the shipping center that I can see it. Even if there weren’t, I would have been able to see enough to make out figures. Marcus’s vision is much better at night, so I’m sure he’ll be able to identify things even better. It’s clear vampires were meant to be nocturnal, but they’ve forced themselves to leave that way of life to become part of society, since humans mostly interact during the day.
He slows the car and parks it before shutting it off.
“Put your mask around your neck,” I tell him as I grab it from the back seat.
“We’re not going in. We’re just going to watch from a very safe distance.”
“Yeah, but you never know if something might happen.”
He hesitates but gives in and slides it around his neck as I check my equipment before getting out. When we’re both ready, we head over to where Smith is leaning against her car, staring at the shipping center.
“Hey, guys,” she says quietly. “So we haven’t been here long, but there’s some activity going on over in the east loading dock. The issue is… is it normal activity or is something up?”
I turn to look but I see no activity at all. “Um… do you guys have binoculars? I have them in my car and kind of forgot to grab them.” I can see the dock, but she must be referring to something beyond it, or maybe I’m looking in the wrong area.
“I don’t think so,” Smith says.
“I don’t see anything,” Marcus says as he walks closer to her position.
She kept saying “we” so I assumed Wren was with her, but I don’t see him. Hopefully, he’s not off getting into something he shouldn’t be doing. “Where’s Wren?”
Marcus’s back stiffens a moment before he turns quickly. That’s when I hear multiple gunshots in quick succession as I instinctively draw back from the noise.
Chapter Thirteen
FINN
The gun has clearly been silenced, but we’re close enough I can hear the pop of it. That’s when I realize that it didn’t come from an outside source, but from Smith’s gun that she has pointed at Marcus. Marcus stumbles back as I lift my gun and shoot Smith right in the chest. She staggers back from the shot before turning to me and rushing forward, but before she can reach me, Marcus tears her to the ground, nails digging into her throat.
“You dare try to kill me?” he growls. “Finn, get over here. There are more of them.”
“Vampires?” I ask.
He looks up and then grabs me, yanking me back quickly as I’m pulled behind Smith’s car a moment before gunfire rains down on us. “Mixture.”
“Are you okay?” I ask as I keep my head down.
“I’ll live,” he says. And since he’s a vampire who will probably be healed within minutes, I don’t let it bother me.
I slip past him and make my way to the rear of the car, where I drop down so I can see into the trees in the distance. I notice someone peeking around a tree, taking shots at us, but I don’t think he’s noticed my new position. I fire my gun, and he falls back, out of sight. I keep shooting, but for every one I take down, more take their place. Marcus quickly calls for backup, but who knows how long it’ll take them to get here.
“Finn, we need to move. They’re trying to surround us.”
“Car?” I ask.
“No, the tires are blown. We’re going to try to take cover in the facility, but that means we need to get to it. Come here.”
I crawl over to him as the pings on the metal of the car sound around me. He grabs me, pulling me against him, then rushes toward the gate as he lifts me up. We’re over the fence in a mere moment and move along the side of the building where Marcus sets me on my feet. That’s when I realize that my chest is wet with blood from him holding me against him. Is he still bleeding? Shouldn’t he be healed by now?
I hear a horribly loud noise and turn as Marcus kicks in the door and lets himself in.
“Come on,” he says as he pulls me inside. Just as he moves in, a vampire slams into him and they both go tumbling over some junk. I aim my gun but they’re moving too fast for me to have a clear shot when they’re so close together. I hear footsteps so I back up, away from the door as I keep my gun aimed at it.
The vampire coming toward me is fast, but he only has a narrow opening and I shoot him with a tranq as he squeezes through. Of course it doesn’t immediately put him down, but I know I just have to stay away until it does. At least, that’s the plan until two more fill the doorway. Their eyes lock on to me as I shoot them while trying to keep a good distance. But doing this is driving me farther and farther from Marcus. One slams into me, hand wrapping around my throat as I empty my entire magazine into his abdomen. That many tranquilizers might kill him, but it’s him or me.