What he needed to do was find a way up, not down. He pointed the beam above, at the disjointed ceiling and the almost missable hole which he had fallen through. There was no way to get up to it. No pipes or cables hung low enough for him to grab hold of.

  He looked back at the map on the wall, and quickly spotted a route which led to another set of stairs. These also ascended to the surface, but were for the staff. That was his out.

  He shifted the light to point forward, through the smashed door frame and into a corridor which looked largely intact apart from some of the ceiling tiles were…

  He flicked his flashlight back to the few inches of blood red finger marks on the smooth wall, walking closer to get a better look.

  They looked some hours old. Already dry and flaking. Someone must have been injured.

  He made a mental note of the route he needed to take and moved into the corridor, immediately picking up a faint metallic odor. Probably cabling or some of the old iron infrastructure which had been exposed to the heat. Yeah that was it.

  He moved as quickly as the lack of light would allow, weaving between fallen pieces of furniture and debris which lay strewn across the corridors, then descended another small set of stairs into a T-junction. He swung the light to the left which was marked with ‘Emergency exit’ and walked—

  Something groaned to this right, making him jump away while swinging the light in that direction. It was another corridor like those he had navigated with closed doors and another larger double door at the bottom… that one was half open, but his small flashlight lacked the juice to push those shadows away.

  Imagined it…

  He turned the corner and walked…

  A door or something, was creaking behind him. He didn’t turn around. Didn’t need to, didn’t want to, so increased his pace towards the—

  The thud of heavy scampering was approaching from behind. He kicked into a run, instinctively grabbing for any piece of refuge along his path to the exit. Something to act as a weapon, but there was no time. He pushed his legs harder towards the final door becoming visible within the gloom.

  Grunting filled the air, louder than his own heartbeat, but it didn’t matter for he was almost at the—

  Something sharp sliced across his back with a roar which startled him almost as much as the burning which erupted from below his right shoulder blade. He crashed into the door, bundling it open, holding its edge in his hand as he pivoted to close it. Fangs belonging to a mouth four times larger than his own lunged at him as she slammed the door close in the face of the lion. The feline smashed into the other side splintering wood, as he desperately held his weight on the flimsy barrier between life and death. Each impact, knocking him a few inches away, before he charged back into the door doing anything he could to stop the beast from getting through. Burning cascaded across his back, but his arms were still working and with every muscle he had, he resisted until the jolting stopped and with it came new sounds. Roars of a different kind were vibrating around the confined space he was in, filling the air with fury and rage. Something was in the corridor beyond the door, something the lion was fighting against.

  Other lions? Other…

  Silence fell heavy upon the darkness. Amongst the sound of his thundering heart was another noise. Something was sliding or being slid.

  No part of him wanted to know what just transpired a few feet away, but he placed his fingers on the door handle, regardless, and after taking a breath, slowly pulled the door towards him while pushing the beam from his light into the gap.

  The lion’s carcass, bloodied and torn was being hauled into the darkness and amongst the shadows things moved, things which he knew were looking at him. He pushed the door closed, pointed the flashlight at the new set of stairs and ascended as quickly as his legs would carry him.

  *****

  Morgan Tanner looked at the blood cells beneath her microscope. They belonged to the mother but not the daughter. Evelyn wouldn’t let Morgan anywhere near Zoe and the micro-biologist understood even if it left her a little frustrated. To have the blood of a child would provide the perfect comparison with an adult, but for now Evelyn’s blood would suffice. And what magnificent blood it was too. On her laptop screen she had a view of her own blood under a different microscope and the difference was almost unnoticeable. She piked up the small UV light, pointed it at the first sample, took a small step back and switched it on.

  Bubbling erupted from the smudge of crimson within the Petri dish. Then smoke coiled from the plastic rim and finally, after Morgan had taken another step back, an explosion of red. Droplets landed on the dried results of the previous versions, adding to the ring on the worktop.

  “What the fuck.”

  She whipped her head around to the teenage son. She hadn’t heard him enter.

  Karl slowly stepped forward, past the bed where Amos had been sleeping, past the medical cabinets and into the lab space, standing behind the first counter. “What was that?”

  With gloved hands, Morgan picked up the dish and placed it in a clear box, with another four. “That, is your mother’s blood. The fifth sample to be exact.”

  Karl shook his head. “Uh? No, that like, literally exploded. Blood doesn’t do that.”

  “My blood and yours, doesn’t do that. But for those who were infected by the virus. That is very much what happens.” She looked at him more directly. “Where are they now?”

  “In their room. Why? I’m not scared of them. They wouldn’t hurt me.”

  “Then you’re an idiot. You should be scared of them. UV radiation not only burns the affected but also suppresses the virus which is still inside them. But at night, the virus releases neurotransmitters which basically turn their metabolism up to a twelve. It makes your average Joe a world-class sprinter, high jumper and power lifter, all in one, combined with a huge increase in testosterone, sending all of them into a rage. When the sun goes down, the bodies and brains of these people pull them into a living nightmare which they can’t escape until daytime.”

  Karl started to breathe heavily. His eyes darting left and right, his mind looking for sanity. He looked back at the scientist. “But why do they want to feed on others? Like a vampire from a movie?”

  She looked at the other samples. “That’s still a mystery. If I had to guess, I would say there’s something about the virus which makes it want to ingest more of itself? But to what ends, I have no idea. But there is one thing I am sure of. This hasn’t been caused by a guy with fangs living in a castle in Transylvania. This is a bio-engineered virus.”

  “You mean, someone wanted people to be like this?”

  “That’s what it look’s like.” This time she saw the door open behind Karl and August walk in with his newest recruits behind.

  “That’s what, what looks like?” said August.

  She pointed to her screen, tapped a few keys and played back the recording of what just transpired. “The Nutri virus is manmade.”

  “Ha,” said Daryl. “Why am I not surprised.”

  August looked at Morgan. “Is it possible to tell where it was manufactured?”

  “That’s going to take some serious detective work. Our nocturnal friend would need to help with that. How’d it go?”

  “I’m afraid we have a problem. The New York factions are coming to our town.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Todd was swimming in blood. Galons of it which was falling from the heavens, filling a clear tank that he was trapped within. As his fingers struggled to get purchase on the smooth interior walls, he could see them on the opposite side of the transparent wall. Watching. Their dead eyes full of hate.

  He sat up with a jolt. His back was against a wall and in front of him were the mother and daughter sleeping. If he had been making noises within his slumber, it hadn’t been enough to wake them. As he took slow deep breaths he studied their peaceful faces. Wondering if beneath their closed lids, their eyes were as dark as those in his dream. Externally they looked normal. They looked human. It was too easy to believe that the night before had also been just an act of imagination. But then that could be said for the last few days as a whole.

  The door opened, making him jump again.

  It was Daryl. “The boss has called a meeting. In the main room.”

  Todd nodded and the door closed. A meeting? Like this was some kind of company that made group decisions and gossiped near the water cooler. What was he even doing here?

  Surviving…

  That’s what he had been doing for almost the past decade, but for some reason, for the first time in a long time, surviving didn’t seem enough. A feeling he hadn’t felt since the news of the accident, started to creep across his mind. A part of him gave a shit about the two people just feet away. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing but for now it was all he had.

  He uneasily stood, smiled at Cash, pulled the door open and walked—

  The clenched fist hit him square in the right eye, knocking him back against the door frame. He tried to get his bearings, as Cash did his best to gnaw at the foot of the attacker.

  “Get that mutt off me!” shouted Amos, who also held one hand in another.

  Todd immediately recognized the man from the apartment. The man he shot and in that instant was relived it was a fist he felt the impact of and not a bullet.

  “Cash!” He shouted at the small dog, who immediately let go of the trouser leg of the still bandaged man. “In the room. Now.” Cash ran inside and Todd closed the door. Todd began to speak but Amos just pushed past, towards the sound of arguing coming from the much larger space at the end of the hallway. He approached with caution, while rubbing his brow.

  “And on whose permission did you go on these missions throughout the city?” said August, in a tone of voice Todd had never heard before. His anger was directed at the young man, standing behind one of the sofas, opposite.

  “I don’t need your permission to get us things we need!” said Noah.

  August walked closer to the taller man. “And tell me, what do you think we need? What do you want, that I have not already provided?”

  Noah’s face contorted. “It’s all out there. Just waiting for us to take it!”

  August turned around. “And now, we are a man down. You lost the firefighter. Who was infinitely more valuable to us down here than he was out there, looking for, who knows what.”

  “Cole’s gone?” said Todd.

  August nodded, while sitting alongside Callum. Another eighteen members of the gang were mostly standing, dotted around the room. Some in the kitchen area, others standing against the pool table. He looked at Morgan who was seated nearby. “Morgan has discovered things.”

  Noah snorted, but sat on the back of the sofa.

  The scientist cleared her throat and repeated what she told Karl earlier. More than once had there been gasps and shaking of heads.

  “So,” Everyone looked at the teen, standing alone at the entrance to the corridor. “At night, these people with super hero type powers, come out from hiding and try and eat everyone…”

  One of the members started to laugh but quickly lost his humor when Morgan nodded. Silence fell upon those inside the recreational area, and Todd could tell August was letting the situation settle in their minds. Fear was always the greatest motivator.

  “Despite,” started August. “The threat from those that prefer the night. There is a bigger problem. During our trip south, we learned that there is a power grab about to take place. Goodman is probably already in the city with his people. Probably searching for our location as I speak.”

  “They don’t know the loops like we do,” said Noah. “Let them… come…”

  Everyone followed Noah’s gaze to the disheveled man standing beside Karl.

  Cole made an effort to smile. He hadn’t realized a head wound had covered half of his face in blood. He looked directly at Noah. “So I found your vaults. Turns out, you might not want to go down there.”

  Morgan sprang up, inspecting the wound on his head. “A vamp did this?”

  “No, that was falling down a ten-foot hole in the ground.” He turned around, showing the torn threads of his jacket. “But this. This was a lion.”

  She looked at him, shocked.

  He nodded. “Yup.”

  “It needs to be cleaned.” She led him down the corridor, as August looked disapprovingly at Noah.

  The young man looked away.

  Jesse who had spent most of the meeting, looking at his hands, looked up. “Are we just giving up on the federal government coming to help us?”

  Noah tutted. “Ain’t no one coming to help us.”

  “Who’s to say there are any federal’s left,” said Daryl

  August held his hands up briefly. “I have it on good authority that the government that we once had is gone.”

  “How you know that?” said Daryl.

  Todd noticed a slight head movement on behalf of August towards the hacker, sitting nearby. “Too many people died,” said August. “There is no government, but power abhors a vacuum. Someone will step into the breach and try to take over, that we can be sure of.”

  “The New York gang?” said Todd.

  “They are the most pressing concern. To that ends, I have sent Angel and Ramses on a little job to ascertain how far into our city they are. The rest of you, get some rest. I imagine the night is going to be… difficult.”

  *****

  Angel observed Ramses through her rifle scope, doing his secret agent thing. Scurrying from one pillar to another. She wondered what the point of his sunglasses were, during a day where the sun was a shimmering disc behind beige smog. She wasn’t even sure he had eyes, or could remember the last time she had seen them.

  He stopped, pulling himself into the entrance to an underground parking garage so not to be seen. Angel shifted her view a little upwards and to the right. To where the luxury yacht was moored. She reckoned it must have cost the New Yorker at least twenty mil. Either way she slid the cross-hair over the guard on the bow, past another, walking along the port side until her view settled upon the upper deck and the men there, busily discussing something. One of them, a gray-haired individual was waving his arms around, then pointing towards something lower down, she couldn’t see. The other man, slightly younger, stood with his arms folded. Whatever the older dude was selling, the other guy wasn’t buying.

  She slid the sight back to the dock and…

  “Shit…” She picked up the radio. “This is frosty, you out there postman? Over.”

  “Yup. Over.”

  She opened her eye again within the scope, moving the view along the path that ran along the dock, then spotted the tall, muscular man who was within throwing distance of the eighty-foot boat.

  “What the hell happened to keeping our distance as per his orders. Over.”

  “You do your job, I’ll do mine. Over.”

  She shook her head in frustration. “Our job, is not to let them know we’re watching! Over.”

  Ramses was now behind the final pillar. Nothing but free air between him and the two guards standing at the bottom of the bridge to the lower deck. She wondered if he was going to rush them both, probably via a combination of flash grenade which he seemed to always carry and his PPK. Small gun for such a big guy, but she had seen him put it to good use many times before.

  She targeted the guard on the right. “If you are going to suicide yourself, I’ve got the man on the right. But I count at least another five onboard. Over.”

  “Callum said we need to be within fifty feet for it to work. So here I am. Within fifty feet.”

  “That’s more like twenty-feet, but okay. Is it working? Over.” She watched him hold the small black box up to his face.

  “It’s picking up… something… Yup. Signals good. It’s recording. Over.”

  She slid the view through the scope, back to the two guards. “Good. Now we just have to watch these assholes for thirty…” The guards were holding their ears, both looking past the pillar where Ramses was still hidden. “Something’s happening. What do you see? Over.”

  “A van’s approaching. Fast.”

  This urgency was reflected in the postures of the two guards, who were desperately talking into their radios while aiming their weapons at the silver van which slid into the bottom of Angel’s view. She heard the crack of gunfire from her position half a mile away. The two guards let loose on the van which skidded to a stop at the bottom of the ramp, the back doors flying open and four men, dressed in operator kit jumped out with helmets, and a kind of body armor she had only seen in the private sector. Their weapons didn’t look standard, either. They opened fire on the guards, felling both instantly, but those onboard returned fire, bullets knocking those from the van backwards, but to her amazement, none of the newcomers dropped. Instead, they simply raised their own weapons again, firing and ran forward, up the ramp where a torrent of gunfire filled the docks.

  After a few short seconds, silence returned.