Death on Wheels

Kellan sat in the car, waiting for Flanagan to get his ass to the meeting point. He was five minutes late, but these days, after dark, those five minutes could mean the difference between life and death. Why the hell he'd insisted on meeting after dark was beyond her comprehension. All Kellan knew was to be at the rendezvous point at midnight to make the exchange. So where the hell was he?1

Kellan had long ago been taught the importance of speed. She'd taken the fastest car from her father's abundant collection; the Jaguar XKR Coupe with its 420 bhp supercharged V8 engine and 0-62 acceleration rate in 4.2 seconds. 2

If the vampires showed up before the meeting was over -- which inevitably they would, considering the merchandise she carried -- she would be out of there before they could even scrape up the paint job. Flanagan could fend for himself, the tardy bastard.3

There weren't any other cars in the parking lot. No surprise, there. Since the great Vampire Invasion of 2014, a majority of the surviving humans had retreated to underground cities specifically designed for such an attack. As it turned out, the government knew more about the vampire threat than had been previous indicated. According to Doherty, Kellan's contact at the Agency, the Secret Service had been gathering intel for at least a decade prior to the Invasion. The president had been sheparded off into some underground bunker somewhere along with 50,000 of his closest pals. The rest of D.C. proper, Kellan and her father included, had been left to fend for themselves. 4

Our United States tax dollars at work, thought Kellan. She wanted to roll her eyes at the thought -- she'd voted the cowardly bastard into office, for christ's sake -- but that was foolish. She was above surface level. At night. On a mountain. 5

When Flanagan finally showed up, she'd chew him out for being such an idiot. Of all the meeting spots to pick, anywhere at higher altitude suggested a tendency towards suicide. 6

No one knew why the vampires liked higher ground. One would think that they'd aim towards more gothic locations, but according to rumor, New Orleans was practically untouched. People even still walked around at night down there, unarmed. 7

The higher the altitude, the more likely one would encounter a vampire. That was a fact. 8

Here was another fact: In exchange for the location and access codes to DC's underground city, Kellan was charged with trading her father's most valuable possession; the legendary Dress Dirk of William Wallace. 9

It wasn't much to look at. The hilt was made of hardened leather, braided into strips and bound tightly together. It looked like regular, cow leather to Kellan, but considering that it was William Wallace's dirk, it might even have been human skin. 10

Wallace was known for that sort of thing. Back during the first War of Scottish Independence in 1296, it was rumored that he'd actually cut the leather for his belt from the backside of his political enemy. In a word, William Wallace wasn't someone you wanted to fuck around with. His dress dirk had its own reputation. 11

Kellan's father believed it was something in the blade, some foreign metal that had been mixed with the iron to form a special sort of amalgam. Legend had it that Wallace had gotten the dirk forged with special metal obtained from a fallen meteorite. After being blessed by holy men, the blade was rendered undefeatable, a sort of Excalibur for the Scottish people. 12

In other words, whoever possessed the Dress Dirk of William Wallace would always prove triumphant in war. 13

This accounted for Wallace's unexpected victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. It also accounted for his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk - the legend told that the night before the battle, a traitor to the Scottish cause stole the dirk and delivered it to the British. Because his blessed dirk was lost, Wallace was eventually captured, tortured, and beheaded. 14

The people under the protection of the Agency -- the D.C. fighting resistance against the vampire invasion -- had accredited their survival to possession of the dirk. The fact that the trained fighters of the group -- also known as Agents -- had been working their asses off wasn't appreciated by the survivors. Oh no, it was the dirk that protected them. Certainly not the elite fighting forces. Credit given where credit is due, after all.15

Kellan, against her better judgment, really did roll her eyes this time. She couldn't help it. The people of D.C. were just as ignorant now as they were before the Invasion, putting all their faith in supernatural nonsense instead of actual fact. 16

Idly, she placed the dirk on her finger. It balanced beautifully, not even tilting. She had to admit it was a good weapon, as far as an ancient Scottish pocketknife went. The blade wasn't very long -- only about eight inches at the most -- but that was still deep enough to penetrate a vampire's heart, which was all a girl needed to do in order to make a little bit of a difference in the world. 17

Kellan grinned to herself. Before the Invasion, she'd been an environmental lawyer, fighting for the preservation of the earth against cost-cutting, corporate scumbags. Hell, wasn't she doing the same thing now? The only real difference was the location; courtrooms rarely came into play when it came to kicking vampire ass.18

A pair of headlights cut through the night air like laser scalpels. Flanagan was here. Finally. 19

Kellan got out of the car, leaving the comfortable bucket seats for the chilly October air. It was gonna be a cold winter - too cold for all the survivors to get through. The elderly and the sick dropped like flies every time a patch of extreme weather came through. The Agency did the best it could do for them, but given the limited supplies and patchy electric generators, there was no guarantee there would be enough food or heat for everyone in D.C. to get through the winter. The year before, they'd lost about 500 people to hypothermia and disease, despite their best efforts.20

Meanwhile, those fuckers in the underground cities were living it up, enjoying their hydroponic vegetables and sulfur-powered geodomes. The processed warmth from the earth's core kept their environment pleasant and livable. The sealed, thirteen-foot wide, hidden access doors kept their underground quarters safe from any vampiric invasion.21

If Flanagan kept his side of the bargain, however, the president and his 50,000 cronies could expect another 100,000 people to come in and share the wealth. Kellan didn't care if it was cramped under there; if she could keep her people safe from vampires first, she would concentrate on things like food and living space later. 22

Fuck those rich, government assholes and their voluntary seclusion. Come tomorrow morning, they were gonna get some new neighbors. 23

A black Kia Rondo appeared, engine humming loudly in the quiet of the secluded mountain parking lot, and pulled into the space beside Kellan. The door opened and Flanagan stepped out. He looked like a jackass with his big, blond moustache and mirrored sunglasses obscuring his eyes. It was midnight, for christ's sake! What did he need sunglasses for?24

"Glad you could make it," he said, the words oozing out of him like putrescent honey. 25

"Excuse me?" Kellan asked, grimacing in disgust. "I thought you said midnight, Flanagan. It's ten fucking after!" 26

"So? I'm here now, aren't I?" 27

"So are any vampires within a five mile radius. Your drive wasn't exactly stealthy, you know. And where the fuck did you get that cheap-ass car?"28

Flanagan grinned, and even in the poor light from the full moon, Kellan could see his teeth, yellow and crooked, looking like tilted gravestones in a forgotten cemetery. "I borrowed it from your momma after kissing her goodnight." 29

"You're an asshole, Flanagan." 30

"Oh sweet cheeks, I'm gonna miss dealing with you." His eyes trailed down Kellan's athletic figure, lingering particularly on her large chest and shapely thighs, before returning again to her face. 31

Kellan shuddered in disgust. She hated having to meet with him, absolutely hated it, but Flanagan was their contact with the Maryland survivors and he occasionally had some pertinent information to share. Since he was, above all else, a womanizer and a letch, Kellan had forced herself to volunteer for the meet-and-greets. She knew she was good-looking enough to get more information from Flanagan than a male Agent would be able, but she had too strong of a personality to ever concede to sleeping with him. Some of the lower-ranked female agents might have succumbed, but not Kellan. Never Kellan. 32

Her father, the founder and head of the D.C. Agency, had raised her right. 33

"So tell me about the access point," Kellan said, keeping her eyes focused on the forest on the other side of the road. Their parking lot was located on the side of a cliff, way too steep of a drop off to allow for vampires to scale the sides, so if any attack came, it would be from the forest.34

Flanagan, the arrogant asshole, wasn't even looking around. It was a miracle that he was even still alive, considering how incautious he usually was. 35

"A deal's a deal," Flanagan said. "You give me the knife, and I'll tell you how to join your little Washington buddies." 36

"No good. Tell me the information first." 37

Flanagan chuckled, wagging his fat finger at her like she was a gradeschooler. "I don't think so, sweet cheeks. But consider this logically; if I double-cross you, you'd be able to take me out in a couple seconds. We both know it. But if you decide to take my information and run, what could I do to stop you? I'm hardly capable of running you down." 38

He held out his hands in front of him, palms facing towards the sky, in a gesture like, "what in the world could I do? I'm so harmless. So pudgy and soft."39

Kellan didn't believe it for a second, but what else could she do? 40

The D.C. survivor's faith in the Dress Dirk was misplaced. Despite the legend, merely possessing it was not the reason why they had triumphed over the numerous vampire attacks during the past five years. Its presence at the Agency headquarters brought some positive morale, it was true, but what they needed more than that, more than anything, was entrance into the underground city where safety was guaranteed. 41

Kellan and her father both agreed; it was a steep price to pay for the information, but if losing the dirk could get them into the underground, it was worth it. 42

"Here," Kellan said, pulling the dirk out from behind her jacket. It was unsheathed. The blade glittered in the moonlight. 43

Despite being over a half of a millennium old, it was still as sharp as the day it was forged. 44

A part of her -- some secret, superstitious part that she had trained to suppress along with her fear, hesitation, and natural abhorrence towards violence -- cringed as the dirk left her hand. 45

Flanagan examined it critically. "It's a little small," he said, his high-pitched voice grating on her last nerve. "I thought it would be bigger."46

"Oh, is that what your last girlfriend said to you, Flanagan?" Kellan purred. 47

Flanagan flashed a smile at her, quick as silver. "I'm gonna miss your sense of humor, sweet cheeks. Maybe even more than your body, although those are some nice tits." 48

Kellan frowned at him. "Whatever, asshole. Where is the access door to the underground?" 49

"How should I know?"50

Her jaw gaped open. "What? What the fuck are you pulling?" 51

And then, in the corner of her eye, she saw it. Over twenty vampires, their eyes reflecting silver, their fangs extended down over their scaly lips. They breathed loudly, way too loudly in the quiet of the night, in and out like a hunting dog, sniffing for a scent of its prey. 52

Where had they all come from? 53

One of the more convenient aspects of vampirism was the creature's tendency to hunt solo. While multiple attacks were occasionally reported from time to time, the majority of human kills were the result of a single vampire breaking through D.C.'s border guard and attacking before the Agency could send reinforcements. This happened more frequently than preferred, but vampires were, by their very nature, hungry for human blood, and sometimes the patrols weren't enough to keep a ravenous vampire from its prey. 54

Those few instances of multiple attack only included about four or five vampires working in collusion. Kellan had never even heard of twenty vampires at once. Given their extraordinary strength and sharp, almost dagger-like claws, she knew she couldn't take all of them. Hell no. Not this many. 55

"Flanagan, get in your car and drive away," she whispered, not turning away from the scene on the other side of the road. She was counting. 21, 22, 23... Fuck! Twenty-fucking-four vampires altogether. This was impossible. There was no way this could be happening. 56

"I don't think so," Flanagan giggled. 57

Kellan whipped her head around. Flanagan was laughing. He wasn't worried at all. He was....58

"You set this up," Kellan whispered.59

"Of course," Flanagan said. "How else do you think that Maryland survived at all? We don't have any stupid Agency with military training and guards and shit. I mean, Jesus, most of our people are farmers and factory workers! You got all the soldiers! How the hell else were we supposed to survive?" He took off his sunglasses and winked at her with one of his sunken, piggish eyes. "Thank god for diplomacy." 60

"What the hell did you do ?" 61

"Your lot ain't the only ones who look at this shitty-ass knife like it's some sort of answer," Flanagan said. "The vampires seem to think that it's something important. And who knows? Maybe the legends are true and now the vampires will win every battle." 62

He shrugged. "But who cares? Once I deliver this knife thing to them -" 63

"Dirk," Kellan corrected automatically, her chest growing horribly hollow as the extent of Flanagan's betrayal washed over her. He sold them out. He sold of all of D.C. out, just because his group was too lazy to fight. 64

"You want to be kept," Kellan hissed, reaching behind her back to her holster where she kept her .357 Magnum hidden beneath her denim jacket. "Like pets." 65

"At least pets are kept alive ," Flanagan said. 66

Kellan didn't hesitate. She wrapped her fingers around the handle and jerked the gun out, swinging it in front of her to aim at Flanagan's chest. 67

Too late. Way too late. 68

She hadn't seen him draw on her; hell, she hadn't even seen his hand move. He'd probably grabbed his weapon when she'd been distracted by the vampires and kept it concealed beneath the long sleeves of his jacket. 69

He aimed the gun -- a .45, probably M1911 if she was recognizing it right -- and squeezed the trigger, twice, before she could get her gun into position. 70

Strangely enough, she barely even heard the blasts. She felt the two slugs slam into her right shoulder, throwing her backwards against her Jaguar. Her head slammed into the side door. Hard enough to knock her out, but if she went under, she was dead. 71

Forcing herself to keep away, feeling the hideous, pulsing pain scream from her shoulder, she looked around for her .357. She'd lost the gun -- fucking dropped it! Idiot! What the hell was the point of the past five years of training if she fucking drops the gun? She didn't see it. It had slid somewhere into the dark of the night. 72

It had to be here. It had to be around. It couldn't have gotten far.73

Flanagan fired his gun again, twice in two seconds. BLAM! BLAM! Kellan closed her eyes automatically, a stupid reaction, but she couldn't help herself. There was no new pain. Instead, she heard a bursting sound and a noise like air rapidly escaping.74

Fuck. 75

She glanced over and confirmed her suspicions. He'd shot out the two tires on the right side of the Jaguar, rendering her incapable of escape. 76

"I'd stay and bid you a fond adieu, sweet cheeks, but I gotta get out of here before they forget our agreement. Besides, I have a knife - sorry, dirk - to deliver." 77

He opened the door to his Kia and paused before getting into the driver's seat. "Sorry it had to end this way, sweet cheeks. We could have had some fun together." 78

Without another backward glance, he slammed the door shut, pulled out of the parking lot, and sped down the road away from the approaching vampires, his tires squealing from his rapid acceleration. 79

Shit! What was she gonna do? A quick glance told her that the vampires were only ten yards away. With her two tires out, she wouldn't be able to drive away before they got to her. They were too close. Too hungry. And she was bleeding all over the place. 80

She looked around, praying for inspiration. The parking lot was on the edge of the mountain. Before the Invasion, tourists would come here and take pictures of the scenic view. Because of the cliff overhang, they would get some pretty damn nice pictures...81

An idea, a desperate, crazy idea, burst into her mind and she pulled herself into the Jaguar, not bothering to suppress her scream as her wounds stretched from the effort. Fuck , it hurt to get shot. She'd never been shot before.82

Still, it had to be better than getting bitten by a fucking vampire. They were five feet away now, their hideous, misshapen heads twisted in permanent grimaces from the shape of their jaws. 83

She pulled herself into the driver's seat and turned on the car. The engine purred into life, a beautiful sound, and with shaking hands she managed to fasten her seat belt. 84

Besides having a top speed of 155 mph and 4.2-liter AJ-V8 engine, the Jaguar XKR Coupe was equipped with state-of-the-art safety measures, including over eight different air bags and a shock-absorbing design. Kellan prayed that it would be enough. 85

Putting the car into drive, she slammed her foot into the gas, grabbed the steering wheel tightly in her hands, and burst the car forward. It slammed into the guardrail at full speed, tearing through the metal like it was aluminum foil, and plunged over the edge of the cliff. 86

Suddenly Kellan was grateful for the night. As least with it being so dark, she couldn't see the ground rushing towards her. She couldn't feel the anticipation of impending death. 87

Screaming from the sheer exhilaration of it all, Kellan plunged into the unending darkness and prayed that, somehow, she would survive. 88