Jonathan Maberry - SNAFU - An Anthology of Military Horror

The voices stopped. After a moment, I stood. “Yep. Tragic.”

Jakes stared at me, his forehead wrinkled. “Did you get any of that? So jumbled.”

I’d gotten enough. I now know that he was being followed. He’d either picked it up during his meeting at Lawrence Livermore or in Gilroy. Whoever it had been, it was a woman, and she was impossibly strong. And the light? It could have been anything, but then again it could have been something as well.

I headed out the alley.

“Where are we going?” Jakes asked.

“To get a massage. Bring Boxie and put him in the Van. I need you there with me.”

I conferred with Evans and Marshall. They’d made a log of the comings and goings of the various people, mostly men. They’d also used one of our SX-69 Polaroid Land Cameras and had forty pictures. They would have had more, Evans had explained, but they’d run out of film.

Nancy picked four pictures out of the lineup. One belonged to Countess Mizuki. She’d left at 3:13 PM and returned at 7:32 PM. One seemed to match the passport photo of one Vitoli Ryabkin. He’d entered with another man. Although I didn’t recognize him, I noted in the picture he was smoking a gold-filtered black cigarette. They’d gone inside an hour ago and hadn’t left. The last was Rachel Nakamura. She seemed upset in the picture, the snap catching her as she looked fearfully over her shoulder. She was inside as well.

My guess is that once they discovered that Harvey had gone to Gilroy, they panicked. They’d been so successful hiding her presence. If it hadn’t been for her failing to tell us about the other scientists, we never would have discovered any of this. That all of my targets were now under the same roof gave me hope. Maybe there was a god and maybe he was on our side. I hoped so, but I wasn’t holding my breath.

Nancy brought a suitcase and opened it on the trunk of the car. Inside were various bullets, knives, swords, machetes, hatchets, and even a wood saw. All of them were made from silver. According to our records, it was the only thing that could consistently kill a vampire. It didn’t work all the time, but it was the best weapon we had. Sunlight only affected a small percentage of them. Garlic had absolutely no effect and mirrors were something from pure fiction.

I loaded my.45 with silver bullets, then grabbed two magazines. I took a machete, which I strapped to my belt. Then I grabbed two hand grenades. Made from silver, they’d also been emptied and filled with silver fragments.

“What about holy water and crosses?” Jakes asked, holding up a silver cavalry sword.

Nancy sniffed, as he loaded his.38 Police Special. “Never heard of it working.”

I was itching to get inside. “Everyone locked and loaded?”

“Seven men around back, led by Brahm. Five in front, including Evans, Marshall, Jakes, you and myself.”

“Do we have backup?”

“SFPD is waiting with SWAT two blocks away, but per SOP, have been asked to wait until called.”

“Doris standing by to make the call?”

Nancy nodded toward the house across the street and down the block. “The nice residents have agreed to let her watch. If things go south, she’ll call in the cavalry.”

I’d emptied out the office and even with all of my men, we probably didn’t have enough. A vampire hive was about the deadliest thing I’d ever encountered during my tenure with the unit. My arm still ached from where it had been broken in three places by a sweet young woman when I’d been the first one in the Berkley sorority house.

Twelve of us were arrayed against it. We had the best weapons modern technology could offer. But even with that, I knew it wasn’t enough. Some of us would die this night. It might even be me. I’d told the men that earlier. I’d always believed it was important to go into a mission with the belief that you would die. That way it relieved you from the fear of the unknown. The fear of death was a strong enemy and I slaughtered it at every opportunity.

I checked my watch and glanced at the sky. I wondered what Neil, Buzz, and Michael were doing now. Were they on the moon yet or had they overshot and were now careening through space. A moon landing would be a great win for America against the Soviet machine.

Like them, I had my own dangerous victory to achieve. Not only that, but I had a life I needed payment for… check that. Remembering the scientists, I had four lives that needed payment. I drew my machete and hefted it in my right hand. I held my pistol in my left.

I nodded.

Jakes went first, followed by me, Marshall, Evans with Nancy taking the rear. The home was a two story California craftsman. City blueprints showed four bedrooms upstairs and one downstairs. The door opened into a living room with a dining room to the right, and a kitchen in back. The place seemed too small for what was going on there, so we were prepared that the basement, for which we had no blueprints, might be extensive.

Jakes’s bull shoulders struck the door at a run. It burst open as he roared, splinters from where the metal lock tore free from the jamb shooting forward. He lurched into the room, then paused. The only person in the living room was a beautiful young Japanese girl who was completely naked. She sat perfectly still on a four-cushion sofa, a small smile on her face.

“Move.” I pushed him, but he wouldn’t budge.

“She’s… she’s…”

“A fucking vampire,” I said, shooting her three times in the chest with my.45.

That broke the spell. Jakes took a step inside, then shots rang out from the dining room. He spun towards them, but only managed to catch two more bullets in the chest.

I dove into the room, so the men behind me could get inside. As I landed, I turned and saw the unknown Russian standing in the shadows of the dining room, holding a smoking Walther PPK. I slid too far, a chair spoiling my sight line.

“In the dining room. Gun.”

Marshall heard me and entered firing.

I couldn’t see if he got the guy.

I started to stand, when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I spun. The girl used my shoulder to pull herself upright. I pushed her away. She fell hard to the couch. He body slumped over, but her head remained where it was, trailing a length of spine like a tail. I raised my machete at the same time it began floating higher in the air.

I sliced at it, missing the first time, but catching it the second time.

The head screamed a high keening. The open mouth revealed a row of fangs which were more like a shark’s teeth than a vampire’s. My blade was caught in the skull but the thing wasn’t yet dead. I pumped two rounds straight into the face and felt delight as life left its eyes. I had to use my foot to press against the head so I could pry my blade free.

My other men breached the back door. I pointed to the ceiling and they headed upstairs. I immediately heard gunshots, punctuated by several screams.

I headed towards the dining room, but stopped when Nancy stepped out, blood on the samurai sword in his hands. I peeked into the room and saw the pants and shoes of a man, a pack of Sobrainies littering the ground. I shoved them in my pocket.

Both Evans and Marshall reported the floor clear.

Nancy was attending to Jakes, who’d taken two to the chest. He needed medical attention now. I directed Evans to take him outside where I knew Doris would see him and call an ambulance.

Now it was time to go down.

I went first, wiping the blood off my machete on a sofa cushion as I passed, then sheathing it. The door to the stairs was in the kitchen on the other side of the refrigerator.