Created (Book 1 of the Created) (38 page)

Small debris fell upon us as we shielded ourselves from the
explosion. We were peppered with rocks, plant matter and tree bark. When we
felt it was safe, Veronica and I both rolled over to watch the small trees rock
from side to side from the concussion of the blast. The devastated hull of the
APC sat burning as a tribute to the brutality of being forced to survive on the
blood of others.

"So what will you tell the soldiers when they
ask?" I inquired.

Veronica stood and dusted herself off. "The wolf will
receive the blame."

I should have known that she would have an answer. She
offered her hand to help me from the ground, but I hopped up without accepting.

She grabbed me by the arm. "What the hell is wrong? I
thought the other night meant something?"

I got within an inch of her face. "Maybe it would have
if you hadn't done that trick with your scent and memorizing me. Don't worry
Veronica,
I know that you imitated her to get what you
wanted?"

"Is that a bad thing?!" She blasted back at me.
She turned slightly. I could see her expression change as her face balled
up.
 
She started to say something,
stopped,
then
spoke quieter. "You..." she
paused again, obviously rethinking what she was about to tell me. Veronica
turned back to me and stepped toward me. "You ... were created for me. He
made you FOR me."

The words caught me off guard.

"We were supposed to be together. You are unlike the
others, can you not see that. I am not like the others. You were made to be
mine. Mine, not... not hers." she said the word 'hers' as if she were
disgusted. Tears began to crawl down her face.
     

"How on earth would I know any of that? How would I
know that I am different? I am still trying to figure out what the hell is
going on! I get here, I am thrust into this life and everyone just expected me
to know everything about being a vampire from a fucking manual. Every fucking
day is something different and the only sane thing was
Sunnie
."
I replied, still was dazed from the revelation.

She had a frightened expression upon her face.
"Never mind.
We need to find the others so we can
finish her mission." Her words sounded jumbled.

We were going to finish this once and for all. I wrapped my
arms around her and held her firmly in place. She went slack in my arms.
"Veronica, you have to tell me the entire truth. Why was I created?"
I fought the urge to shake her until she answered. Instead, I remained calm.

Veronica put her forehead in the middle of my chest.
"Let me go, and I will tell you only if you promise to understand one
thing. I love you and I would never want to purposely hurt you."

"Okay," I answered. "Okay." I let her
go. She stepped back. We stared at each other as we waited to see what was
about to happen. Veronica seemed to be stalling or searching for something. I
knew we didn't have time. Hell, we both knew. Sooner or later we would have to
resolve what she had done. The truth that had escaped was something I was
unprepared for.

"Ethan, I will give you the abridged version, but what
I have to tell you
is
a closely guarded secret, and if
the wrong person found out it could mean your death. I will refuse to tell you
if you cannot promise me that this secret stays between us." Veronica
leaned against a tree that was behind her as she awaited my answer.

"If I agree, will you tell me the truth?"

"I will." She shifted her radio communicator from
her ear to her shoulder. "The soldiers have not spotted the wolf at this
time. This needs to be fast. Whatever I leave out, we can talk through
later."

           
I nodded in
agreement.

"This program was started from behind the scenes by my
dad and his brother in the 1960s. They used their influence and money to get
the U.S. government to back a program to create a super soldier. We were still
in the Cold War and the U.S. needed an advance weapon system that could
influence the outcome of a war in Europe if one were to arise. So, the Farm was
purchased and testing began. There were years of nothing. The program and the
family dream was about to be shelved when my father and uncle emerged from the
shadows with under the guise of the Chadron Corporation. They decided to take
it upon themselves to advance the research and hopefully bring a potential new
direction for the floundering program. The reality of a super soldier program
was the furthest thing from the truth. "

I watched Veronica as she struggled with what to put in and
what to take out of the story. It was obvious there was something in the
details that made her reconsider that there was a possibility that she
divulging too much information. She was momentarily distracted by a squawk from
the ear piece and an invisible object on the ground before her chin came up and
her eyes found mine. "It may be hard to comprehend that my kind could grow
to love something, but my family has. We have been here for centuries and
heavily invested in the survival of the U.S. We have become great patriots, but
we three are alone in the world. The virus that created us had long since grown
dormant, so the plan was twofold. We would try to regrow our numbers while supplying
the U.S. with needed weapons. After years of some success, more advanced
technologies were developed. These technologies allowed the creation of the
first generation of human replicates, vampires, which like us, were able to
mimic the human population and blend in with the culture."

I was shocked. There a million questions though that was the
only one that I could utter. "How old are you?"

"Ethan, for Pete's sake, is that really
important?" She asked.

"It must be if I asked you. Now tell me how old are
you?"

"I am four hundred thirty nine years old this past May.
My father and uncle are much older. They are both well over two thousand years
old."

"Does your family also live on the base?" I asked.

A half laugh escaped her then she became serious again.
"Actually no.
They lead amazingly human lives and have
homes outside of the Farm. The interaction level needed to sustain our cover in
a world of complex technology is difficult to relate to for someone who hasn't
lived it. You are getting just a small taste. That is why we were granted the
right to leave the base. It is another step into your assimilation into
culture, or as my uncle calls the course, learning to be a vampire: the
basics."

It was too horrifically fantastic to believe.

"The
generation
sixteens
are
my new family, but though they are closely similar to my DNA, they
are not perfect. You were the closet match to our sequence that we had ever
seen when you were delivered to us after your death. Taking the virus we had
created, the hope was that finally I would have an equal. You were supposed to
be a mate to continue the line for real and not just another creation that is
an abomination of what vampires are actually. We are Gods, my family and you.
The gift you have been given separates you from the others, makes you part of
me. We have spent our whole lives being hunted and hated. I have had to watch
my whole family die at the hands of people who were afraid of us and persecuted
us for being different. Now in the U.S. and around the world, we are no longer
vilified. We are revered. The world is finally on the verge of accepting us.
Still there is a ton of work to be finished before we can live comfortably
within society.

I didn't know what to say.
"And the
other creatures?"

Veronica said, "The wolves and the zombies were
offshoots of testing. Originally, the wolves existed in various cultures until
they too were hunted to near extinction. With the last wolf’s death two hundred
years ago, so died the virus that created them. The wolf that escaped tonight
was the next step in the evolution. The wolf is perfect. As close to being an
original as possible. Unfortunately, we cannot have a wolf roaming the country
side tearing down everything we have worked so hard to create. We can construct
more, but right now this wolf must die because capture will be near impossible.
The zombies are a whole another issue. Think of them as..."

The chatter on the dangling ear piece picked up. Veronica,
though she didn't need to do so to hear the voices, replaced the device in her
ear. "We need to get a move on. The wolf is about five miles out. The
teams are converging on the position."

She started to run only to stop when she noticed that I
didn't move. "No matter how you feel or how confused you may be, we still
have a job to do. So move it."

Veronica sprinted cautiously toward the location she had
been given. Knowing she was right about doing our duty, I chased her into the still
partially burning forest.

The sounds of shouts and small arms fire permeated
throughout the forest followed by the howls of a wolf.
A very
large wolf.
 
I drove forward with
only my mission in mind. Getting caught up in all the bullshit that Veronica
had told me would only increase my chance of getting killed.

We arrived to the location that was being fed to Veronica
through her uplink. The site was a war zone and it was apparent, from all of
the injured and dead men that this group had lost badly. The group was neither
mine nor Veronica's. This was the squad that had been given to Logan and
Sergeant Hayes. The six humans were spread across an area the size of a
basketball court. Hayes was still alert and active, tending to his fallen men
though he himself was in need of medical attention. Upon our approach he tried
to stand, but clumsily fell back to the wet grass of the field.

I offered my hand then retracted it upon seeing the huge
gash across his forehead. I had to suppress the urge to feed as the blood
poured from his gaping wound. He noticed my discomfort and decided to stay
seated on the ground. It was obvious from is actions that he had a concussion
to go along with the injury to his head. The Sergeant was aware enough to not
so subtly adjust the location of his SIG closer to his reach.

The natural reflex to feed was extinguished as I became more
comfortable around Hayes. It took seconds, but I am sure to him it must have
been an eternity. "I am alright Hayes. Still not use to this condition of
mine." I tried to reassure him. It didn't work.

"What the hell happened here Hayes? Why did you
engage?" Veronica ordered.

"Colonel, we didn't want to combat the enemy. We were
making our way through the woods into position when he jumped us. We tried to
lure him to the site, but it was a trap. He had two other wolves with him. They
were not newbies. These are the nasty generation threes. The homicidal maniacs
we keep locked away except for hunts and testing. There was no report of other
wolves loose in the field. Were there Colonel?"

Veronica looked concern. "No, there wasn't supposed to
be more. The only one reported to me was the GW17. Undoubtedly, there is
someone on the inside who has an agenda. What do you mean it was a trap?"

Hayes rose to a knee. "The GW17 lured us to here. Upon
our arrival, the GW17 was a couple hundred yards out. We set up a firing
position for defense until help arrived. The Threes were already here behind
us. We fought them off as the big joker stayed outside of the field watching.
The Threes were a handful. There are four dead and another two broken up, but
they should live." Hayes began to say something else, but collapsed into
unconsciousness.

Veronica rolled the muscular soldier onto his back. "I
think he will live. This cut along his head is going to leave a nasty scar
though."

I moved from soldier to soldier checking each to see if they
were indeed dead. The other two that were alive, Corporal Morales and Corporal
Whitten, had wounds and broken bones that needed immediate attention, but with
treatment should make it. Veronica radioed for medical evacuation and to see if
the other groups had made contact with the now three wolves. She relayed what
we learned to the base, while I searched the field covered in late hay for
anything that might have been a clue to what was happening. At the same time,
what was lacking made me uncomfortable and worried.
  

"Veronica, where is Logan?" The question made both
of us begin to search for our friend with our senses. He had been here
recently, but his trail ended at the edge of the hay field.

"They took him. From the trampled grass and disturbed
ground, it appears that Logan put up a heck of a fight before being taken back
into the forest." I said as Veronica looked over my shoulder at the
evidence. "Why would they not kill him? The pad impressions indicate the
Threes fought him here, but over there about twenty feet The Seventeen carried
him off with the Threes in pursuit."

Veronica studied what I had found. "I don't know, but
who can ever know the motives of a wolf."

Approaching helicopters were arriving to tend to the
decimated squad. We both watched the noisy helicopters as they came into view
over the horizon.

"Now what?"
I asked.

"Now we push forward with the mission. I have radioed
the other two groups to rendezvous at the road which is about two miles to our
right. We will meet up there and see if we can get a bearing for the
wolves," She said.

"You realize that is in the direct path of the
direction of the tracks. You will be sending the troops to the slaughter."

"It will be their slaughter if we don't hurry and
pursue the wolves before we lose the scent, or worse they arrive at our troops
without us there to help intervene in the rescue of Logan," Veronica
hurriedly said, as she disappeared into a clump of wild hedges.