Vampire Apocalypse: Descent Into Chaos (Book 2) (18 page)

“I think he pushed you over the ropes,” she answered
and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly. “Peter, I will not
lose you. I’ve lost too many people already.”

Harris looked into her eyes and took her hands. They
were cold. She looked so frail and her face was ashen from
exhaustion and worry. Her hair was lank and lifeless from too long
without sunlight, and he hated to burden her more but things were
spiraling out of control. He felt like a leaf buffeted from all
sides during a storm.

He loved her so much and he hated what he was about
to put her through, but they weren’t just fighting for their small
community anymore. They were fighting for a world, and if he had to
fight Regan as well as the vampires and the thralls, then he would
do so.

“I have a plan…”

Steele glowed with happiness as he hugged April. It
was the first good thing to have happened since he had woken up,
and he felt his despair lighten somewhat as he felt her tears roll
down his neck. His wounds still hurt like hell but he ignored the
pain in favor of the contact. The way things were going he might
not feel anything ever again soon enough so he relished the feeling
regardless of the pain it brought. It gave him something to hold
onto, to remind him that, for now at least, he could still
feel.

Three rounds had torn through him, one had ripped
straight through his side and, while there was little chance of
infection from that one, it had caused the most physical damage.
The other two had lodged in his flesh and, while their resident
nurse had easily removed one of them, the other had been a
different matter. They still had no surgeon, or even a proper
doctor in their community, and one of the bullets was perilously
close to a nerve. His caregivers had told him flatly that there was
no way of removing the bullet without a proper surgeon, and even
then it might be touch and go with the equipment they currently
had.

There was nothing they could do so they had sewn him
back up and left the bullet where it was with a warning that, while
he might feel fine for now, the bullet could rub against the nerve
at any time. If it did then he was likely to be paralyzed. It was
also possible, even likely, that the paralysis would be
permanent.

Everyone had been supportive. No one had actually
used the word ‘paralyzed’ but Steele just couldn’t get the picture
of himself in a wheelchair out of his mind. Harris had already been
around and had tried to cheer him up with talk of using his
knowledge and skills to train others, but he had been firm that his
days of going on missions were over. They just couldn’t take the
chance of him losing the use of his body at the wrong time.

He supposed he should be grateful, in one way. On the
trip back he had drifted in and out of consciousness but had picked
up enough from the concerned expressions of those caring for him
that they had been worried about his very survival. Somehow,
though, he just couldn’t raise himself from the feeling of
depression that had descended over him since he had heard the
news.

A few months ago he would have put a bullet in his
brain rather than end up paralyzed, but that had been before he had
met this group, and especially April. He had had a sister her age
before the vampires had come but she had been lost early on in the
campaign. In many ways it had been her death that had been the
cause of the despair that had led to his damnation. It was a cruel
irony that what he now felt for April might be the very thing that
could redeem him.

His sister, Catriona—or Cat as she had liked being
called—had followed him around to every army base he had been
assigned to. Their parents had died many years before and Steele
had tried his best to look after her, though his many missions away
were not ideal for raising a young girl on the brink of being a
teenager. There had been a suggestion of her being taken into care
when their parents had died but she had run away five times and
always turned up at whatever army base he had been assigned to so.
Eventually, everyone had given up and let her stay. They had always
had a fiery relationship, but one which was based on a deep love
for each other that was tempered by their need for family.

It was unusual that she was allowed to live on base
at all and not forced to stay in housing close by. But Steele was
very good at what he did and his superiors had pulled a few strings
and turned a blind eye to allow it. The army wives had been very
supportive and looked after her when he was away, but, with no one
keeping a close eye on her, Cat had become a bit wild, especially
on an army base with so many men around.

It had been early in the campaign with the vampires
that Steele had returned to the camp to the news that Cat was dead.
He had been so shocked that he had numbly accepted the version of
events. He had even missed her funeral and it had taken him a few
days before his brain had begun to work again. He had blamed
himself for her death, convinced that if he had been around, that
she would still be alive. Everyone insisted that it had been a
terrible accident but one which was nobody’s fault. He would just
have to accept it and move on.

One of the camp councilors had gone through the
events with him to show that it would not have made any difference
if he had been on camp, and it had been during one of these
sessions that he had noticed that something was wrong. Some of the
events the councilor spoke of didn’t tally with what he had been
told and, as he talked to a few more people he began to sense that
something was being hidden. Everyone else he talked to had the same
story his commander had told him. Exactly the same story. It was as
if they had learned the words from the same script. Something was
very wrong.

He began to investigate, and after breaking a few
arms and cracking a few skulls he learned what had really happened.
Four special service soldiers had come looking for him one night
and had seen Cat when she answered the door. They had been drunk.
What had started as harmless flirting and a few crude comments and
innuendos had turned into far more. They had pushed their way in
and when Cat had started screaming they had panicked and hit her.
Before they had left they had raped her and left her lying in a
pool of blood while they continued their drunken binge.

She had been found the next day but she had died
during the night from blood loss. One of the men involved was the
son of the camp commander and he had spun a story to keep the men
out of it. They buried Cat before Steele returned so he never saw
her body or the trauma that the men had inflicted upon her. Anyone
not prepared to keep quiet was threatened with a transfer to the
front and everything would have remained hidden if Steele had not
started digging.

Steele had seen enough of human nature in his years
in the military. He had seen how some of those in command used
their positions to grow rich by selling guns and ammunition,
leaving the men doing the fighting with inferior weapons and
supplies. He had seen this happening over many years but the war
with the vampires was a fight for survival and not just a political
war. This latest betrayal convinced him that maybe humans were just
not worth saving. He had found and killed the four men, slowly and
painfully, and had strolled into the commander’s office and
beheaded him in front of a delegation from Washington. He had used
the commander’s head to buy his way into the vampires’ camp and had
begun working for them as he tried to deal with his rage. He didn’t
think about what he did. Each time he killed he did so with calm
ruthlessness and saw only the faces of his sister’s killers with
each life that he took. In all the time he worked for the vampires
he never killed an innocent and always did his best to spare all
the women and children he could.

In reality he had done no more than all those who had
become thralls but he still hated himself. He had managed to avoid
the serum but, as his rage had finally begun the recede, he began
to realise that his path would bring him only more pain and
despair. Each night he slept fitfully as his soul tried to deal
with the rage in his heart. He knew that he was damned but he had
no idea what he could do. Humanity was enslaved and it was far too
late for him to turn on his masters.

It was only when he had come to this town and had met
Captain Egan that he had begun to see another path. The thrall
Captain had shown him that not all humans were bad and that some of
them were even worth saving. He began to realise that no matter how
vicious and evil some humans could be it was no excuse for what he
had become. Being with Harris and his friends had rekindled
feelings he had thought gone forever. But it had been his time with
April that had brought back those happy memories of his sister. At
first it had been hard, the memories were just too vivid, but he
began to learn that the memories did not have to hurt, they could
also bring joy, if he let them.

While he had been away he had thought long and hard
about his relationship with April. He worried that he was the one
who was using her. That she might be uncomfortable but was afraid
to say anything to him. He certainly had not detected that she was
afraid of him but it had been so long for him since he had had
human contact that he was out of practice.

He had concentrated hard and was quite adept at sign
language now, though there had been many hilarious mistakes where
he had signed the wrong phrase and had sent April in fits of
laughter. Sign was difficult but he had plenty of time between
missions and he really did enjoy the girl’s company. She was very
like Cat in many ways, though not so much as to be morbid.

It wasn’t that he was trying to replace his sister,
that could never happen, but April was alone and her vulnerability
seemed to call out to him. He had wanted to do so many things with
his sister, bring her to so many places, and now that would never
happen. Maybe now he would get the chance to show April some of
what he had planned for Cat. Maybe he could be the brother April
had never had and in being there for her maybe he could also fill
the hole that still threatened to envelope him.

He was well aware of what some people thought but he
chose to ignore them. They could keep their sick thoughts to
themselves. He had stopped worrying about what others thought long
ago. He did worry, though, about what April thought and how people
would treat her. He had not had a chance to talk to her since the
rumors had begun so he would have to talk to her now.

His initial worry about whether she would want to see
him at all, especially in light of his injuries, was shattered when
she had flown into the hospital room and thrown herself over him,
burying her face in his neck. She held him tightly and it hurt like
hell but it was worth every stitch that would need to be reapplied.
He would talk to her about the rumors later.

When the pain had subsided a little.

The election was over and the results were in,
although the result was not quite the landslide that Regan had
thought it might be. He had won, by quite a margin thanks to the
spin he had managed to put on the recent events, but he did not
have the total clean sweep he had been hoping for. Harris watched
Regan as he sat among his new inner circle. He had called a meeting
of the new government so that they could assign each member with
his or her main responsibilities.

The biggest problem any government faced with an
electorate who did not know them was that they could not involve
the voters and get their support going forward unless the voters
felt they had been part of the formation of the ruling committee.
Because they had such a mix of people in their small community, and
because most of these groups had little knowledge of who actually
made up their current committee, it had been decided that everyone
would get a chance to put their own names forward for election.
That way, individuals who were popular within certain groups and
understood the needs of that group would have the chance to have
those interests heard.

There had been fifteen places up for election and
there was a minimum number of votes required for a candidate to be
deemed elected. If too few people reached the required number then
those positions which were unfilled by the voters would be filled
at the discretion of the new leader of the community. The person
with the most votes in total would lead the new ‘government’ and
would also have final say as to what positions each member would
hold on the committee.

The result was something of a quandary. Voters had
filled ten positions by direct vote, leaving five positions to be
filled by whoever would lead the community going forward. Father
Reilly retained his seat, as did Lucy Irvine and Denis Johnson. All
three were popular and well known in the community. Pat Smith had
lost his place, as had Sandra Harrington, a direct reaction to the
fact that neither had done any canvassing. The fact that Pat Smith
had been working in his lab and Sandra had been in hospital had
obviously not been taken into account.

The voting had been closer for the top position than
anyone had realized. The appearance of Harris with thirty rescued
people in tow as the election drew to a close reminded those who
had not yet voted what it was that he was trying to achieve. In
fact, many who had already voted tried to change their votes when
they saw the bedraggled survivors but were refused. It was a matter
of too little too late. There were just too few left who had not
voted, and in the end Phil Regan had received the most votes.

Ian Phelps and Patricia Lohan had the dubious honor
of having polled the lowest number of votes but, on receiving
confirmation of his new position, Regan immediately re-instated
both of them. He also named John Kelly as one of his discretionary
seats; some people wondered at this and suggestions were made that
this was payment in lieu for services rendered while he had served
on the previous committee. Though nothing could be proved. This
made some pause and wonder about how long Regan had been planning
the election and how much more he had hidden from them. However, to
most it passed unnoticed.