Shatterbones Page 12

  President Thomas nods and waves his hand in a gesture for them all to enter. They wipe mud from their shoes, shake umbrellas, and remove wet jackets before sitting down in the small equipment storage room.

  Two Secret Service Agents that were silently standing in opposite corners of the room head for the door to wait outside.

  “Terry, Hendrickson, wait, stay in here. There’s no point in your going out into that storm and getting sick. Stay inside and have a seat. I doubt anyone will be able to get past the vampires to attack me today.”

  Oddly, even though the members of government have been scattered throughout the U.S. and any meaningful form of representation ended, the vampires are making quite a show of protecting President Thomas. They have allocated ten vampires to surround this building as presidential protection while the base and adjacent city of Cheyenne is thoroughly searched. Once the search is completed, they have been assured the president and his staff will be assigned specific houses and buildings to reside in. It took only twenty vampires to defeat the four thousand troops that went into Washington D.C. so this show of protection is either overblown or there is a concern that the president might be attacked by other vampires.

  “Mr. President, may we begin?”

  President Thomas and the others sit on stools around an oil-stained shop table that has been cleared of tools.

  “The first thing we need to deal with is population attrition. We estimate forty-three million people have died in the past week.

  “Nearly twenty-eight million adolescents went through the change on the first day, taking the human population down below three hundred million. Approximately twenty-seven million people were killed the first day in attacks by the newly changed children. It is grim, but we are fortunate that not all of those that became vampires killed humans when they mutated. Many used multiple sources of blood for replenishment or were the arch-type vampires and only fed on other vampires, thus limiting the number of deaths. We project the deaths caused directly from vampire attacks account for around sixteen million people, not including those people lost due to aircraft, car or other vehicular accidents due to The Shattering.

  “The two other groups that have cost us lives are the behemoths and giants. They have added significantly to our losses. The behemoths are the large mountain-troll-looking creatures that grow in size each time they consume a human or mutant. There has been no successful communication between the behemoths and either humans or vampires. They are one hundred percent committed to the destruction of anyone and anything in their vicinity, and the vampires have taken to killing them on sight. The death toll associated with their activity is about eleven million, fewer than deaths caused by the vampires, but there are far fewer children that became behemoths as well. Perhaps only one million children became the behemoths and possibly fewer than that.”

  “And they caused that many lives to be lost?”

  “Yes. Our information is not complete due to the broken state our nation is in, but the numbers we have compiled in communications with others around the country coincide with what we have been given by the vampires. The giants caused the least destruction but still account for two million deaths. They have limited vocabulary and interact awkwardly according to information from the vampires, but they are not violent once they are replenished after mutating.

  “We have lost an additional sixteen million people in the past week due mainly to losses of the elderly or others that were dependent on continual medical care or varying degrees of life support. A small percentage of those sixteen million would be caused by children that have gone through The Shattering after those that changed on the first day, but those losses account for less than fifty thousand. That brings us to the total lives lost of forty-three million.”

  “Do you know why children mutated differently yet?”

  “Not yet, but Dr. Usachova is working on it. She has nearly as many vampire guards as you do, sir, so they view her information as a valuable resource as well as we do. She told me she is being given access to everything she needs for her research and will let us know what she finds out as long as communications between groups remains possible.

  “We also understand the possibility that they are keeping her secure on the chance she discovers some weakness to their condition. We have given her codes to use if she feels threatened or has information for us that she is unable to directly convey. Unfortunately, with many of them being able to read minds, I don’t know how safe or secret anything she discovers would be.”

  “So she could discover a way we could beat them and they will know before we do. Fine, what’s next?”

  “I haven’t finished with population attrition yet, sir. Unfortunately, forty-three million deaths is the number today. We can expect one or two million more people to die every week for the foreseeable future if things remain stable. There will be continued issues with health, stress, and age-related deaths. The relocations are hard on many people as is the lack of electricity around the nation.

  “The problem we are facing is leadership and knowledge among the vampires. Before this event happened, most normal adults had no clue how to go about feeding themselves without running to a grocery store and their clueless children, the vampires, are now in charge of us all. Right now, the vampires are scavenging supplies from all the stores and warehouses in the country. With the loss of continued production of goods, we will be looking at mass starvation occurring within a few months at the most, especially in the larger cities. Rationing has to be put in place immediately, and word must be sent throughout the nation if possible.”

  “How many do you think we will lose?”

  “In addition to the lack of food, I have to mention we are heading into the fall and winter seasons.”

  “How many?”

  “Best case scenario, by spring, seventy-five million dead. Medium case, two hundred million dead.”

  “Medium case! What the hell is the worst case?”

  “I’m afraid the worst case is complete extinction of all non-mutated human life. But we don’t anticipate the worst-case situation occurring within the next year unless there is some type of war or other escalation.”

  “So you believe up to two hundred million more Americans could die by next spring?”

  “Yes, sir. I’m afraid with no electricity for heat and no food production, a majority of the nation’s population will die. What we are looking at is a near return of society to that of the eighteen hundreds. Our modern food gathering and production capabilities rely on fuel and electric power to gather and process. Those systems are all currently shut down. Once we are through the winter, we could return to the agrarian ways of the past, but even if our people were given the mobility to plant and harvest crops or raise livestock, most of them don’t have the skills necessary to survive a farming lifestyle.

  “I believe you should expect loss of life numbers to equal that of our scenarios regarding an electromagnetic pulse attack. Many of those were in the range of eighty to ninety percent death toll with an EMP attack on U.S. soil alone. We are facing a similar circumstance with our being confined the way we are.”

  The new Director of Intelligence, Bradley Hoskins, speaks up. “Sir, if I may?”

  “Go ahead, Bradley.”

  “There is something more happening here than we know about. You have ten vampire guards outside this building alone and my men have counted close to a hundred around this base. They are not taking shelter from the weather, but regardless how superhuman they are, the elements still affect them. The rain and cold still bother them, but they are staying at their posts and I believe it is all to protect you, sir. If they are guarding you this way because they respect your position, then you have the influence necessary to make requests to have people return to work in needed occupations.

  “It is in their interest to keep as many of us humans alive as possible. Their answer to a simple request to have people return to work in necessary industries will tell us everythin
g we need to know about the real situation we are in. I just hope they say yes.”

  “What do you believe our situation is if they say no?”

  Everybody but the president shifts in their seats. Several heads around the table bow down and more than a few frowns appear on the faces of the advisors.

  “Sir, we all know they don’t need such a show of strength against us humans. All of these guards are to defend you against other mutants, other vampires. What I believe, what we are afraid of, is escalating territorial disputes among the mutants. There are millions of children around this nation that for the first time have unprecedented power. Think back to when you were twelve or thirteen. If you were a regular middle school kid one day and the next you had the superpowers of someone in a comic book, what would you want to do?”

  “I was a Superman fan, so if I had his powers, I’d want to kick the ass of every bully and troublemaker I could find.”

  “And if there are superheroes, there will be supervillains as well. We saw that with what happened in Washington D.C.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Make America Great Again

  Oregon

  A light fog floats over the grassy ground of a clearing in the McDonald-Dunn Forest north of Corvallis. Cora is waiting at the edge of the woods with Lloyd and two other winged vampires.

  “I can hear someone coming.”

  A lone vampire speeds through the trees approaching their location and bursts into the clearing, barely slowing her immense speed before turning abruptly to face the group she is heading toward. Running right at them with no indication she will stop, the others listen more intently to the forest for others that may be approaching and all four prepare to take flight. At the last possible moment, the woman freezes her legs movement causing her to slide sideways to a stop in front of the small assembly. A Cheshire grin bursts open on her face.

  “I’m so happy you asked me to meet you here.”

  “Cora, this is Erica. Erica, this is Cora, Lloyd, and Ruben.”

  “You should be careful approaching people like that.” The frown on Cora’s face, as well as her stance, lets Erica know she almost started a fight with the people she was hoping could help her and her family.

  “I’m sorry for that. I still get excited about what I can do. I wasn’t trying to start anything.”

  “I understand that, but things are getting more serious than you can imagine. You do know what we may be headed into correct?”

  “Actually, no, I don’t really know what you want. Brian only told me he wanted me to travel around Corvallis and get an idea about how the humans and vampires are dealing with each other. I already told him it wasn’t going to be easy because of the Clark brothers.”

  “Please tell them what you know; this will help us decide what we can do to help your friends and family.”

  Erica loosely flops to the ground and crosses her legs in a childlike manner.

  “The Clark brothers are twins and they control the city. They have wings like you do, but I don’t know what their actual powers are other than being mean. They travel around the city and make sure all of us that have changed keep the humans from getting out of line. I think they were bad kids in school and were used to getting in trouble, because when they talk to people, they sound like a parent yelling at their kid for doing something bad.

  “There are other vampires with wings like you guys, and I heard one of them saying they had a few hundred in their group. I’m not really sure the exact amount of fliers there are, though. They don’t spend time with us runners and don’t treat us very nicely. I know there are two thousand eighty-five runners. They told me that the day I changed.”

  “Are all of the runners and fliers willingly working with the brothers or are they being controlled somehow?”

  “I know there are some that don’t get along with them, but they still do what they’re told. Someone let me know one of the brothers killed a few of the other vampires for disagreeing with them, and it made everyone fall in line. I have no way of finding out how many are with them or against them without someone telling on me.”

  “What about your parents and friends? What is their situation?”

  The girl in the woman’s body looks up at Cora and shakes her head.

  “You don’t know where your parents are?”

  “I know where they are. I don’t know what that word ‘situation’ means.”

  Cora kneels down and smiles. “We need to know how your parents are being treated and where they are. Are they still living in your old house?”

  “Oh, I get it. No, my parents and brother are kept in a building along with some of the other families of the runners. All over the city, the family members of those like us are kept together, and the people without any changed family are kept in other places. Once I changed, they were moved. I was told it was for their protection, but I could tell the girl who told me was lying. I think they keep them together to keep us in line like when my mom would threaten to take away my favorite dolls if I was bad.”

  “Thank you, Erica.”

  Frowning, Cora stands and looks at the others. “Corvallis sounds worse than Albany. It will be tougher with two arch-vampires in charge. What are your thoughts?”

  “I wanted you to meet Erica because I think you have the greatest chance of helping the people in this area. Listening to her give more details, though, I don’t know what can be done if they are willing to kill other vampires to keep everyone around them in line.”

  Cora looks briefly back at the girl still sitting on the ground watching them. “I know what can be done. I know what will have to be done to get rid of the brothers, but if we go down this path, where does it end?”

  Lloyd looks at Cora and smiles softly before frowning and turning his gaze on Erica. “You seemed upset when you mentioned the regular people. How are they treating the humans?”

  “I want you to know I can’t do anything about it. I asked a few times and said it wasn’t right, but they kept telling me to be quiet so the brothers don’t find out. They don’t like it when people question how they treat the others. It’s our time to run the planet, their time is over. That’s what they make us say at the events.”

  “What events?”

  “They hold fights between groups of humans. They make them fight each other and the losers are drained. One man tried to protest and refused to fight so they broke his bones and then pulled him apart. I have nightmares about it. I know we all did awful things the first day we changed, but that was when we couldn’t control what we were doing. Now they are hurting and killing people for fun. This isn’t how I want the world to be. I want things back like they were before, I want to go home with my parents.”

  “I think that’s part of your answer, Cora. If we go down this path, where does it end? If we don’t go down this path, where does it end?”

  Ruben and Brian nod and Cora turns away from Erica to face the others.

  “If we do this, it will end up being a war. Those brothers are the type of people that will fight to the death, and I bet the same will happen with the one controlling Albany. We’ll have to gather everyone together to survive the kind of battle it’s likely to be but I think it’s a fight we should have. I don’t want to leave humans to be tortured, and I’m not going to leave these child-minded vampires to be controlled by psychopaths either. So we should start by clearing out the area around Salem and move outward from there as we gather more likeminded vampires.”

  “I have an idea where we can get weapons for the fight.”

  “Guns can’t kill us, dork!” Ruben punches Lloyd on the shoulder and smiles at Cora trying to get her attention.

  “The bullets won’t kill us, but they will slow us down. You can bet that after we start taking down the vampires that control their own areas, word will spread. The vampires in the cities we are heading to next will grab whatever weapons they can find to fight back. We can’t expect to fly into an area with just our bare hands and o
ur strength and survive against equally strong opponents that also happen to be filling us full of bullets.

  “I also wasn’t thinking about guns. I think we should get some swords to try them out, they might work out better for us in the long run. My friends and I did a lot of fighting with blades when we were members of SCA and did historical reenactments.”

  “What the hell is SCA? He is a dork, Cora. Are you sure you shouldn’t be hanging out with me instead?”

  In a show of solidarity, Cora wraps her arm through Lloyd’s and grabs his hand. “SCA is the Society for Creative Anachronism, and I happen to like the fact that Lloyd did more with his time than play videogames before the change. I also prefer him looking at me in the eyes over you always staring at my breasts.”

  *

  No blood is on the ground, but bodies lay everywhere. Hundreds of vampires are huddled together in fear on Kinder Field in the middle of Albany, Oregon. Overhead, flashes of white flesh dart through the sky firing bullets at each other from armory liberated firearms. More vampires run up and cower together with the others already on the field.

  The sounds of bullets fade as shells fall from the sky along with bodies. What many are learning in this early battle is their ammunition runs out far sooner than the battle runs its course. The fight is turning to one of brute force. Punching, scratching, wrestling, and ultimately biting, which leads to death.

  A spent body falls from the sky, its severed arms, legs, and wings loosely wave as they are all pulled by gravity to the earth. Impacting several yards from the vampires trying to shield themselves from the horrors of this new reality, it causes a collective shudder through the huddled mass. The head lands last, bouncing off the torso to which it was once attached. When it lolls to the side, the fearful group sees the face of the arch-vampire that had so severely controlled and threatened them over the time since the change occurred.

  The battle rages on in the streets and sky of the city, but five winged vampires, with weapons from the past, descend and land by the body and parts of fallen Dmitri, the boss of this region. Two of the five descend on the parts that lie before them, draining them of blood and bringing that vampires fight to its ultimate end. The shivering group of running and winged vampires trying to avoid taking sides or participate in this battle are the objective of the other three that landed by Dmitri’s body.