Disarming

  When the time had come to do Katrina’s bidding outside the underground, he had earned her trust and had made his worth obvious as a leader, a warrior, a fighter. It had been a blessing in its own right. The time spent down below, trapped in the unrelenting underground, had taken its toll on him. Agoraphobia seemed to have taken hold of everyone and no one dared wander too far from the boundaries of Vida. Not even Elijah. The furthest he had made it was the Palms Casino, where he had taken up residence when he could. He had the chance to run now, but had never taken the first step to do so. What had kept him there, so frozen, so afraid?

  Chapter Thirteen

  Down the Rabbit Hole

  April

  NOW, TO SNEAK away to the underground. But how to accomplish such a feat? That’s what I wanted to know. Rye wasn’t making it easy. He appeared suspicious every time I headed near the door or attempted to leave the vampire hive without him or Miranda. Was he on to me already? Probably so, since I had hastily dropped Jeremy off with him and had left without inviting him out whenever I went map hunting with Miranda and a few times before and after that. I suspected that he had interrogated her about our activities that day, but she was true to her word and had said nothing.

  I hated leaving him in the dark about it all, but I couldn’t let him ruin my plans to check out the underground city before I even got there. No. I would put up with him as long as I had to and get down there. I would get to the bottom of this rumor. But I had to do it without him holding me back. So he remained in the dark about it.

  For now, I waited. I waited as the days went by painstakingly slow, waiting for the right moment. I dropped by the hive almost every day, and every day Rye was there, waiting for me and making sure he knew everywhere I went. I had to find a way to sneak away. I hated leaving Jeremy at home with my mother, who remained locked up in the storage room. But it was looking like I was going to have to do that to get enough time to investigate the casino.

  So that’s what I did. I invited Miranda to come stay with Jeremy for me while Helen remained locked up. For once I felt hope, the promise of something more in the heart of the city of Las Vegas.

  ~~~~~

  I WATCHED JEREMY wave to me from the entrance of the bunker before he ducked back inside with Miranda and locked the door. Gripping the steering wheel tightly, I sat for a moment, twisting my hands around the rippled plastic, feeling the sweat building up on my palms. I could do this, right? I rarely felt so much doubt. I had to do this. I needed to. It felt like a compulsion so deep within to follow the road to the underground city to find the other humans.

  Yet here I was, frozen in the driver’s seat of my Jeep, waiting for a push from some outside force to make me go. A push that would never come. I was still surprised that Miranda had not offered to go with me. She had given me a knowing look when I had left, telling her I needed to blow off steam and go for a nice scavenging through the city by myself. She never probed further, letting me go without even a word of warning. It was easy with her. She knew I didn’t want to elaborate and left it at that.

  I let out my breath slowly, giving myself a pep talk and willing my foot to press on the gas. The car moved out slowly, as if it knew what to do by itself. I accelerated down the road and onto the highway, relieved that I was moving. The first step is the hardest, I thought as the asphalt sped by faster and faster. I was determined, and I knew that it was not going to be easy.

  There were miles, literally miles of tunnels under the Wynn, under Las Vegas, actually. I couldn’t tell exactly where they all ended up, but I suspected that at the end of one of them was a door that led farther and deeper into the ground. I was hoping there were not going to be too many feral vampires lurking about, especially since I was calculating that the human clan had probably already cleared them out of that particular casino. Still, every night was an invitation to the ferals to come inside and have a look around. New real estate. Maybe even the scent of human blood lured them in, who knew?

  I gulped, hoping the humans were not aggressive. What if they were? They could kill me on site if they really wanted to. Then my brother and mother would be none the wiser of my fate, would they? Whatever happened to April? Who knows? For once I was more afraid of the unknown than the feral vampires themselves.

  I shook the morbid thoughts from my head. It was grinding on my nerves, which I definitely didn’t need, especially at this moment, when my doubt was at its greatest. My drive to the Wynn had gone quickly. I was almost dreading reaching the doors. I pulled into the garage where there was an entrance near the underground labyrinth that would soon be my mission to explore. It was relatively deserted, except for some stray cars and litter scattered into the corners of the concrete walls, propelled there by the rough winds of springtime. If any city should be called windy city, it should have been Vegas. It was never-ending here. Always kicking up dust and debris all over the place, flaring up my allergies. It was relentless. It was one reason I had wanted to leave this God-forsaken town after I turned eighteen.

  It sure didn’t look like I was ever going to be able to leave now. Where would I even go? Would it be any different from this ghost-town of a wasteland? It was highly doubtful.

  Parking the car, I glanced around, watching for movement from the garage and the building itself. The windows of the hotel were one-way mirrors, reflecting back the multitude of floors of the garage. I strapped on the loose weapons I had brought on the passenger side of my car. Flashlights strewn across my chest along with a bandoleer of knives, which sat snug across my shirt. I chose two short katanas, easy to carry for they joined together into a short staff. I was hoping it would be enough to deal with ferals and humans alike. It was small enough to carry, but long enough to cause some serious damage further than an arm’s reach. I secured them and then slipped on a flashlight headband to light my way and keep my hands free, smoothing back my hair under it. My long, black tresses were in a tight, low ponytail today. I thought I looked like a Christmas tree. But it was all in the name of vision.

  I hoped I wasn’t as noticeable to the humans with the lights. At least I had a quick shut off button in case I heard anyone. Slipping a loop of thin rope onto a clasp on my belt, I closed the door and stared at the double doors down a cement bridge that connected the garage to the building. I hoped the building was not rigged with traps. That would majorly suck.

  It’s now or never, I thought.

  I puffed out my breath, rounding my cheeks like a chipmunk as I tried to control it. Who knew what was in there? Whatever it was, I was about to find out. I headed to the doors and peeked at their exterior. They looked undisturbed, and I prayed they were unlocked. A slow shove on the thick, tinted glass responded with a slight whoosh as the doors swung open and my intrusion sucked the air in like a vacuum. It was air tight and smelled of mustiness and old things. I took one last breath of the fresh breeze outside and slipped into the dusty darkness.

  It was slow going, even though I had memorized the map. It had been difficult to read, being that it included all sorts of information on pipes and walls that looked all so unfamiliar to me. I was not an architect, and it had cost me. I had resorted to hand drawing myself a map of the labyrinth below after familiarizing myself with the ground-floor layout of the casino. I reached the stairs rather quickly and descended down into the main floor, keeping my ears on alert for any noise.

  Dust floated across my beams of light, clogging up the rays and making the visibility short. I cursed as I made my way along the walls, dodging upturned chairs and garbage littering the dirty carpet. It looked like some flood waters had made it into this area; the floor felt gritty and was caked with drying mud. For the most part, it had dried in scattered puddles, leaving the floor incredibly messy but undisturbed. That meant no ferals had treaded on this mud at all. I took it as a good sign but did not let up my guard.

  It didn’t take too long before I made it past two dealer pits and dozens of slot machines and began to notice the familiar raunchy odor t
hat had permeated my nostrils many times. I readied my katanas, hoping to find the lurking ferals before they found me. I snorted, knowing full well I was lit up like the apple in Times Square, a perfect shining beacon to pinpoint my spot.

  Before long, I could hear it coming. One scrawny straggler, inching its way toward me like a tiger focused on prey. I must have looked incredibly savory, for it ignored the beaming lights blinding its searing red eyes and headed right toward me. For a half-starved beast, it was incredibly fast, its body looking bony and malnourished. A growl snarled through its withered lips, exposing rotting teeth and fangs. I took a quick step back before arching my sword right across its neck, sending its head tumbling and spraying ink-black blood across the cracked, muddy floor. Its body was left to twitch its last moments away near my feet. I dodged the puddle it had created near me and crept farther down the walls of the silent casino.

  One down, how many more to go?

  Another rounded the corner and stumbled toward me. This one was also withered but not as badly as the first one. Its wild red eyes glared hungrily, wanting nothing more than to rip into me. Its lips curled back, fangs glinting in the light of my flashlights. I let it scurry toward me before swiping one of the katanas across its body, watching as it sliced through easily, sending a spray of blood straight up and out, smacking into the roof and leaving a dripping splatter above me. It tumbled to the floor but continued to creep along the floor with its legs and one good arm. It reached out to me, fingers desperately curling in and out to grasp my clothes. I chopped the arm off and swung my sword one more time to decapitate the creature. I dodged the drips and was already past the body as it finally stopped writhing on the filthy carpet.

  That was easy enough.

  The trek through the darkness wasn’t as nerve-wracking as I would’ve thought. I’d done this too many times to feel the fear penetrate any longer. It was still there though, checked into a hidden crevice in my mind and ready to pounce out if needed. But it was no longer my master, and I was no longer a slave to it. It wasn’t the vampires that scared me; there were much more frightening things lurking in the darkness. Like humans. I hoped I could get in and out as fast as possible, only observing what I would find. If they were friendly, so be it. If not, well, I would deal with that as it came.

  My patience was running low as I crept further into the building. It was slow going with debris and overturned furniture in my way. The stale air felt thick and made my throat itchy. Breathing in the toxic fumes of mold was going to take a toll on my allergies. I was glad I kept my prior regimen of taking my daily preventative meds going. The bottles were available in the old warehouse stores by the hundreds. I doubted I’d run out before they all expired. I never thought about what I would do when the effects no longer worked and the medications dried up from time. Any which way, the future would come. No matter what happened—or didn’t happen—it was there, looming over my head.

  It’s not that I didn’t look forward to the future. Who knows? Maybe it won’t be as bleak as it seems it will be. I didn’t know any of this would happen. I didn’t know the world would die so fast outside my windows, withering in screams and blood. I could only hold out to find a future somewhere that resembled anything normal. Maybe that was the main reason I was down here. I was left wanting the normal, craving it like an insatiable disease eating at my insides. A normal where Jeremy could be a child, not some jaded kid raised on killing and scavenging like an animal. Most of all, I wanted him to have a life where he would have others besides me, especially when I am gone. Others to keep him safe and sound.

  So I kept on, keeping my steps light on the ground. It was a relief to arrive at the double doors that led to the underground corridors. The great metal doors creaked in the silence, filling it with a pitch that made my hair stand on end. I cringed, hoping it would not attract any unwanted attention. I leaned on the door, letting my weight hold it as it slowly came to a close. The affirmative click made me sigh in relief. It was another barrier to attack from the ferals. I didn’t really expect many down in these hallways—only those who had lingered in the dark from the beginning would be found here—but I highly doubted anyone would have wanted to remain here during the outbreak. I would be surprised to find anyone here.

  Stepping on the smooth concrete slabs under my feet, I kept a constant vigil back and forth, ahead and behind me. My shoes left pressed imprints in the untouched dust that stuck to everything. Cobwebs dangled above and moved delicately like moth-eaten curtains as I passed. Certainly no wind had touched them since the breakdown of civilization. I hoped my disturbance was not tragic to the tiny critters left to stare at me as I passed. I welcomed them in this darkness; their tiny, unseen eyes were surely fixed on me. I shuddered for a moment before I assured myself that only humans had been affected by the virus. Thank goodness. Who knows what it could have done to animals. So far, none were infected that I had seen.

  A distant shuffling echoed down across the walls, making me stiffen. I listened to it as it faded. I prayed I had just heard myself brush against a wall, but there it was again. Something dragged, like a broken foot pulled along as the other limped on as best it could. I immediately knew it wasn’t human and gripped the hilts of my swords. I was ready for it, almost eager.

  I turned the corner to find just what I wanted to find: a feral, its withered body barely able to move in the darkness. It paused, a single shiny red eye finding the illumination of my flashlights too bright, making it wince. Where the other eye should have been hung an empty socket. Pus and fluid dripped down its cheek and its flesh was rotting to the point of falling off its bones. Too hungry or too weak to care, it continued to shuffle toward me, a low guttural moan barely registering in its throat. It was so weak, I almost kept walking past it, but a quick swing of my sword and it was down forever, dark, inky blood oozing from its severed neck, spilling into an impenetrable black stain on the grey floor.

  I stepped over its bag of bones body. It had been weakened and slow for so long, cobwebs had taken up residence on its shredded clothes. I felt narrowly disappointed. Where was the fight? I could feel my blood burning inside my veins for more than this. It was pitiful. I was used to the vicious feral fights with snapping jaws and scratching nails trying as they must to rip my flesh away. Not this. Not this lack of strength and an odd feral vampire or two to get in my way. Where were they all?

  I sighed, remembering that this place had probably been cleaned out long ago by the humans. Not only that, their nightly cattle calls with the ferals were taking their toll on the population of the wild vampires. It was definitely noticeable now, especially here on The Strip. I wondered if the humans really wanted to hide anymore. This kind of extermination would not go unnoticed by others. Didn’t they know that? Their genocide was going to attract a lot more than just feral vampires.

  At this I gave a short haughty laugh. Yep, attract other unsavory beings—like me. Was I not here now, lurking in shadows and eager to infiltrate their solace? I was definitely going to find them, no matter what. I wondered if anyone else ever had similar ideas. If so, they hadn’t come this way from the look of the dust and mess around me. I wondered if Elijah would have done the same as I was doing if he had discovered them too. Maybe.

  How many entrances were there to the underground? It hadn’t occurred to me before that there could be many of them. I gulped, hoping that I was the only one sneaking in at this very moment.

  Finding the door which led even further into this labyrinth, I shoved through it to find a set of stairs leading down and down. Peeking around, I saw that it only led the one way. There was no staircase up. It had to be a private entrance of some sort. I shut the door behind me and crept slowly in to glance over the rails. The stairs spiraled down on and on, disappearing into darkness−I couldn’t see the bottom. There had been no electricity so far, making me think that the underground city was sealed and self-contained in every way somehow. I hoped to find some utility lines to lead me in.
r />   I took to the steps as stealthily as I could, wincing at every creak or shift in the metal. Most of the steps were concrete, but the inlaid metal was the noise maker. I sweated all the way down, the air becoming more and more stifling. It was like smoking a cigarette of dust, and I suppressed the need to cough as well as I could. My eyes burned and watered, streaming tears down my face as I descended farther into the dark. This place was like a tomb, and I hoped it would not be my last resting place.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Catch Me If You Can

  Elijah

  SLEEP EVADED HIM, always, like chasing feathers in the breeze, it was endlessly unattainable. Elijah sat on the untouched mattress, not wanting to stare for long hours at the unchanging roof tiles. He hated nights when there were no tasks to complete and he was left to dwell in his thoughts throughout the silent hours. It made him restless to linger with the ghosts of the past, the things that were never going to be the way they were supposed to be, no matter what he would have wanted.

  Running his fingers through his messed-up locks, he let out a breath. He had wanted to do so many things in his life, and it was all gone now. Sailing the Pacific, traveling to every major city of the world, becoming a successful director−those things were no longer possible. They would never happen now. No matter how much he tried to devise a way he could still accomplish some of his hopes and aspirations, it all had ended with the outbreak, filling the world with demise and death. Would there be anything left of the other side of the world to see if he was even able to get there? He doubted it. He was pretty sure devastation like the kind that had occurred in Las Vegas was worldwide. Nothing would have held it in one place. It’d been an extinction sort of event.