Vampire Apocalypse: A World Torn Asunder (Book 1) (11 page)

“Thank you, Peter.” Harrington
looked over to Lucy Irvine. “Lucy, can you give us the state of the
nation please?”

Lucy Irvine remained seated.
Harris had always considered her a shy woman with people but had
come to realise, as had many others, that, where business was
concerned, she took things very seriously indeed and had no
problems defending her views. Her obvious flair for organisation
and administration had made her the perfect choice for
quartermaster and she ruled the allocation of supplies with a firm,
but fair, hand. She fidgeted with a few files before her and then
took a deep breath before she began.

“It’s not that good, actually.
We now have one hundred and eighty three people in the facility and
have supplies for another two days.”

“But I thought we had stocked up
with enough food when...” John Kelly began to rise as he spoke.

“Mr. Kelly!” she snapped. “Would
you please sit down and let me finish?”

The authority and force with
which Lucy Irvine spoke surprised everyone in the room, and Kelly
plopped back into his seat under her withering glare.

“As I was about to say,” she
continued, “We stored the stockpiled supplies in lab three on the
second sub level. At that time the room’s temperature had been just
above freezing and seemed to be perfect for storage. Unfortunately,
the room is next door to the generator and when we turned it on,
the motor heated the walls and all the supplies stacked against the
other side of the wall spoiled.”

A low moan rippled around the
table.

“I should have seen it,” she
continued over the murmur, “but I’m afraid that’s what happens when
we have so many new departments working in isolation and haven’t
yet perfected how we should co-ordinate everything so this type of
thing doesn’t happen.” Lucy Irvine had been reluctant to expand the
committee but had bowed to the pressure of the majority when it had
been voted upon. Harris could see that she was only a heartbeat
away from an “I told you so” and admired her restraint in settling
for such an innocuous statement.

Dan Harrington began to say
something conciliatory but she ignored him and pressed on. “What’s
done is done but that’s not the worst of it. I’m afraid we have
another problem. Two of the children have picked up an infection of
some sort and their temperatures are dangerously high. Jill Ahern,
most of you know her,” heads nodded around the table and but Lucy
wasn’t asking anyone, she was merely stating a fact and she
continued, “says that normally this could be treated easily with
the correct medicines, but, in their absence, the infection could
well prove fatal to the younger children. In such closed quarters,
the chance that others have already contracted the same virus is
high. We could be facing an epidemic. Obviously this will mean that
we will have to avail ourselves of this window that Mister Harris
was speaking of.” She finished quite abruptly with a glare around
the table as if daring anyone to disagree with her.

The assembly was shocked. No one
spoke for an uncomfortably long time. Finally, Dan Harrington
rose.

“Well, the words “shit creek”
and “paddle” come to mind.” People laughed at his quip, a pressure
valve that relieved the tension but it was half-hearted at best.
There was no denying the pall of depression that had suddenly
descended over the room. “Captain,” Harrington continued as he
looked towards Vincent Crockett, “could you fill us in on how
things are going on the home front?”

The appointment of Vince
Crockett as Head of Defence was a surprise to many, but not to
Harris. He knew how canny Harrington could be. Appointing Crockett
to the committee placated the largest opposing group in the
community while allowing him to keep a close eye on the man as
well. To be fair, though, Crockett was doing a decent job.

Despite his coup attempt, though
he still refused to accept that it should be described as such – he
thought of it more as a desperate plea, an attempt to draw
attention to what he and his followers were saying, – he was one of
the few people in the community with actual military experience. It
would have been criminal to waste him. The man’s intolerance of
those who failed to meet his high standards disturbed Harris
though, especially since most of the community, himself included,
fell far below those expectations.

However, he did bring with him a
wealth of knowledge and he soon had everyone in the community,
including the older children, training every day to improve fitness
and familiarise themselves with firearms. Up till then most of the
people they had rescued had never held a firearm, let alone fired
one, and their unfamiliarity could well be the difference between
life and death at some point. There had been those who argued
strenuously against allowing children to handle weapons but
Crockett had debated with them, patiently at first and then more
aggressively, that everyone had to be able to protect themselves
and the community. It was a different world and it was up to
everyone to contribute in any way they could. He had won his
support and the weapons training had continued.

He had also shown a flair for
strategy and had set up excellent defences around their new home,
something he and the original committee had completely missed. Once
voted onto the committee, Crockett threw himself into his role with
single-minded determination. Crockett had been a teacher before the
vampires had come but had also served as a Captain in the National
Guard and many used his rank to address him out of their respect
for what that uniform had once meant, rather than their respect for
the man himself. He was a difficult man to like as he had an
abrasive personality that was not helped by his treatment of
everyone as a raw recruit. He shouted at anyone; man, woman or
child, who did not perform their role as expected but, in fairness,
he had already had a huge impact on the community’s fitness and
general readiness as a whole and Harris had revised his opinion of
the man significantly since he had first met him. He had also
created many particularly nasty surprises around the Cave for any
attacking force.

Glad he’s on our side, Harris
thought as the Captain rose.

“As you all know, we’re quite
lucky in the location of this facility. Natural defences like the
forest and the river surround us on three sides, and I have plans
for a few surprises there.” Crockett grinned and Harris couldn’t
help but feel sorry for anyone trying to sneak up on them from
those directions. “However, we’re rather exposed at the front. I’ve
had small teams work on a few defences there, but we have to
scatter every time we hear a helicopter or see a land patrol.”

“Any obvious changes to the
landscape also have to be camouflaged to prevent detection from the
air so, as you can imagine, work is slower than I would like. I
have asked that the house proper, that is the floors above ground,
remain unused. As Peter said before it’s essential that the
building continues to appear abandoned when patrols come to
investigate and drills should be run to keep noise to a minimum.
The last time a patrol passed by there was far too much noise from
certain quarters and it is a miracle they weren’t heard. Although
the entrance to this underground facility is difficult to find, it
would not go undetected in any concerted search.

“I would also like more heavy
weapons for the wall defences,” he continued, “but transporting
them back here without leaving a trail is proving difficult, to say
the least. Weapons training is progressing, but we can’t afford to
use live ammunition, so how effective people will be in an actual
attack is still unknown, blanks don’t really have the same shock
you see. I would estimate that we have twenty people I would
consider proficient in weapons. The rest are untried in a battle
situation and could be beneficial or detrimental when faced with a
real life-threatening situation. We won’t know until it happens I’m
afraid.”

Crockett shrugged apologetically
and retook his seat.

“Pat,” Harrington next addressed
the chemist, “have you any update on the blood sample?”

“Oh, yes, indeed,” Smith
responded almost bounding to his feet in his enthusiasm. “It really
is quite fascinating. I have not had much time so far, but things
are proceeding quite well.” Pat Smyth was an optimist by persuasion
and seemed to find something positive in almost every situation. If
he had a fault though it was in appearing too positive and this
invariably led to people being disappointed. He also tended to get
side-tracked quite a lot while talking and many people took this to
imply that he was not quite as clever as he first appeared. This
was a mistake, Harris knew from his many conversations with the
man. Pat Smyth had more brains in his finger then most of those
around the table had in their heads. He was though, at heart, an
earnest and extremely likable man and Harris had a lot of time for
him.

“The blood itself, although you
can’t really call it blood as such. It’s more like a parasitic
suspension actually, though suspension doesn’t really describe it
…” Harris coughed gently and Pat stopped immediately as he realised
he was wandering again. He nodded at Harris and returned to the
point he was trying to make.

“The, ah, cells feed off the
living organisms contained in our blood, but need to do this more
often as the vampire’s level of exertion increases. The two
distinct cell types in the sample taken from the vampire are
completely different from human cells. I cannot identify them
further with the current equipment, but obviously when a human
undergoes the change into a vampire it happens at a DNA level. They
truly are a separate species. I must admit I have no idea how they
heal so quickly, but, interestingly, adding silver nitrate to the
sample seems to hold some cells in stasis.”

Smith noticed the questioning
looks on the faces of his many of his audience.

“Let me use an analogy,” he
checked quickly over towards Harris who nodded slightly. “The
silver acts like a sun cream. Although it lets fluids and some
cells continue to flow, one type of cell is unable to move in the
tainted suspension, similar to the way sun cream allows certain
tanning rays from the sun through and blocks the harmful ones. I’m
guessing that this might be the regenerative cell and that is why
silver-infected wounds do not heal.

“It puzzled me that we could
shoot the creatures anywhere, including the heart, and they could
regenerate, but a simple stake in the heart reduced them to goo. As
an aside, the complete and amazingly fast breakdown of their bodies
when they are staked happens because these cells I mentioned
earlier, as well as being completely rewritten from the original
human cells, also work at a hugely accelerated rate. This speed
explains how they can heal so quickly--and why they break down so
quickly.

“Anyway!” Smith paused briefly
for a quick breath and continued again at his frantic pace. Harris
could see some glazed expressions around the table but most were
keeping up so he remained quiet.

“I decided to investigate what
was so different about wood. For years “Old World” cooks have
maintained that the best platform for preparing raw food on is
wood. I haven’t had time to investigate this in depth, but
wood--once you clean it of course--seems to have natural oils that
ensure germs do not survive on its surface. I think this might
explain why wood is so deadly to these creatures. The oil reacts
against their accelerated systems.”

“Would that not then apply if
they got shot anywhere, not just the heart?” The question came from
Crockett, who leaned so far forward that he was nearly on top of
the table.

“Good question and one I
pondered long and hard on,” Smith replied. “Again, you’ll have to
excuse me, but the knowledge needed for a complete analysis is far
beyond our meagre facilities.” He smiled briefly but, seeing no-one
smile in return he continued. “I think that staking them in the
heart concentrates the oil in the most vital area of their body and
the regenerative cells cannot work quickly enough to break down the
oil’s affects. This accelerated battle to repair the heart causes
an equally quick breakdown within the body. When the wood
penetrates elsewhere in the body, then their healing ability has
time to dilute the oil’s concentration before it reaches the heart,
and they survive. I have no idea why sunlight or holy water has
such an effect on the vampires themselves but none on the sample of
their blood. Scientifically, the sample should burn up when exposed
to either, just as the vampires themselves do, but when I tested
this numerous times I failed to duplicate the same results. At the
moment I’m stumped.”

“Doctor.” All heads turned to
Father Reilly who leaned slightly forward as he spoke. “Would you
not consider the theory that while the creatures themselves are
evil, and as such are susceptible to God’s elements; the sample
itself is not and so remains unaffected?”

“Father, at this stage I’ll
accept any theory, but theology is even further from my field of
expertise than DNA research so I can’t really comment with any
authority.” Smith nodded to the priest and quietly retook his
seat.

Harris looked around at the
members of the committee. The emotions showing on their faces
ranged from stoical acceptance to shocked wonder and he wondered
where they might go from here. This meeting was somewhat of a
baptism of fire for the new committee members and he wondered which
ones would rise to the occasion.

He turned towards Dan Harrington
as the worthy began to speak. “Well, people, there you have it. Any
suggestions?”

After a brief pause the members
of the committee began to debate, slowly at first and then the
conversation gained momentum as ideas were proffered, discussed and
decided upon over the remaining two hours that the meeting
lasted.