The sound of drilling woke me. When Icahn had said the stuff had been buried beneath his lab, he hadn’t been kidding. No wonder he hadn’t been able to give up on Genesis. His Vampire-killing device, or whatever it proved to be, had been buried twelve feet under, inside a steel room.
We were blindly doing what he’d told us to do. I winced at the thought. What the hell was it?
I groaned and covered my eyes with my arm. This had been going on for days, and I’d been averaging three hours of sleep a night.
I’d come to believe Icahn hadn’t been lying. There might not be a gaggle of mad scientists heading toward Genesis in a horde, ready to kill us, but there were Vampires aplenty going really nutty.
We were under constant nighttime attack, and our days were filled with trying to get into Icahn’s secret compartment.
Chad snored gently next to me. He could sleep through everything and these days it seemed like I couldn’t manage to ignore a sound. Maybe it was because I constantly worried they’d break into the big old hidden safe room of Icahn’s and find it was filled with poisonous gas, ready to turn us all into zombies.
I really couldn’t put destruction past Icahn. Dead and still running things. It seemed totally unfair.
I looked at the clock on the wall. I’d slept for two straight hours. My arm ached and I rubbed it, checking the skin to make sure it hadn’t swollen and no new sign of infection surfaced. Scarred, but healthy. I had to live with the idea of constant pain.
I sat up, trying not to wake Chad. He rolled over mumbling, and I sneaked out of bed. He’d taken out three Vampires the night before in one giant staking. I’d been impressed. We’d seen no Werewolves whatsoever and I wondered if they smelled or somehow knew what was about to happen to us and were waiting to jump in for a last-minute slaughter.
After I dressed, I walked outside into the fake sunlight of the world Icahn had created for us.
I looked up and moved slowly toward the sound of the drilling. In fact, I became so interested in the fake lights and how they glowed down at me I plowed right into Micah.
He oomphed and we both hit the ground. I rubbed my arm, which had, of course, taken the brunt of my fall.
“Sorry.” Micah groaned. “I was distracted.”
“Yeah.” I stood and offered him my good arm to grip so he could do the same. “Me too. A dangerous combination. You and me, distracted.”
“Right.” He smiled. “So where were going in such a hurry?”
“The drilling. You?”
He shrugged. “From the drilling to try to get some sleep. Nothing much to see over there.”
“No progress?” Damn. I’d really hoped that this morning there would be a change. Something to plan, some way to make progress.
“You can go see for yourself. Maybe you’ll be their good-luck charm.”
I shook my head. “Micah, I’ve never been anyone’s good-luck charm.”
“I don’t think that’s exactly true. Chad would disagree immensely. So would my whole family, in fact. He wouldn’t be with us, if not for you. And your family. They’d have been dead or made Vampires if Jason hadn’t wanted you to make it through the onslaught. Pretty lucky.”
My cheeks were so hot they throbbed from the sensation. I did not do compliments well. “Stop it. You don’t have to say those things to me, brother.”
He grinned at my choice of words. “Oh, right. We’re family now. You officially have to take all my crap whenever I want to dish it out.”
“Or I can let Chad pound on you, either way.”
“Fair enough.” He rubbed his face. We could all do a wonderful job of hiding exhaustion but just for so long. Micah’s showed in his eyes. “Listen, I talked to Deacon. You think I should go with him to who knows where to do who knows what?”
“I really don’t get to have an opinion. Only you can know what’s right for you. I wanted you to know it was an option.”
Truthfully, I wanted him to go. Not because I wouldn’t miss him. I would, in a major way. Micah not being there would be a huge hit to me and not just because he fought so darn well but because he was my friend.
But there was no way he could go off into the wilderness because Rachel told him to.
“Right. Well, Deacon’s leaving soon. I need to think about this some more.”
“Sure.” I patted his arm. “I know you’ll do what’s right for you.”
I watched him walk away for a few seconds before I turned and headed back toward the drilling. I wanted the vault place opened and I wanted it opened now. Too bad my internal temper tantrum couldn’t actually get anything done.
***
It took another three days before they finally broke through. It was the middle of the night and every person in Genesis had turned out to see it opened up.
“I’m going to go in first when they yank the metal back.” Patrick spoke to the crowd. None of us had discussed what would happen when they finally accomplished the goal.
“I think Rachel should go.” Deacon spoke out. “Icahn left this for her.”
“I’m good. I don’t always have to be the first person out of the foxhole and into the fire. If Patrick wants to go first, he’s more than welcome to have at it.”
Chad grinned at me. “Did that hurt you? Did making such a declaration cause you physical pain?”
“A little bit.” I smiled. I did want to get down there. My hands itched to make it happen.
“Let’s go together.” Patrick patted me on the back. “None of us should ever go alone into danger.”
A few minutes later, armed with my machete, stake, and a flashlight, I climbed down into the darkness, following Patrick into the unknown.
“You doing okay, Rachel?” Patrick called upward.
“Yes. Fine.” The only problem with having a partner was the constant reassuring.
My feet finally hit the floor, and I unhooked myself from the rope. I stepped out into and looked around. There were lights set on low, illuminating the room. I guessed I wasn’t going to be using the flashlight unless I whacked someone over the head with it.
The only object was a large safe.
Patrick swore. “Are we really going to have to break into something else now?”
“No.” I knew the code. He’d left this for me; he’d want me to be able to get into it.
“Can you open it?”
“I can.” I walked forward and stared at the dial. With a spin, I started to enter the code I felt would open the safe. My birthday. And as I suspected it would, the safe gave way. Son of a bitch.
The sound of the seal breaking filled the room and a burst of cold air hit me.
Patrick pulled me back. “Careful. We don’t know what’s in there.”
“I don’t think he’s kept a Vampire on ice this whole time, waiting to come out and eat me. And none of my Vampire alerts are going off.”
“Why make us Warriors at all?” Patrick shook his head. “I’ve always wondered. Why not just leave us plain humans? Totally dependent on him.”
“Someone had to keep him alive. He needed an army who could keep the Vamps under control in case they got away from him.” I peered into the safe. “It’s okay. There’s nothing inside going to hurt me. Not right now, anyway.”
“What is it?” Patrick looked inside.
“It’s vials.” Three of them, actually, with a note attached to the inside of the door. I handed it to Patrick. He could read Icahn’s words and decide if we’d be doing what the maniacal asshole wanted us to do. I knew without looking what it would say.
Somehow, some way, I’d be risking my life in a way I hadn’t anticipated in order to do something with those vials.
“If we add this to the Vampires’ food supplies, then we’ll be able to wipe them out. It’ll kill them.”
“Add it to their food supply?” I turned to Patrick. “Their food supply is their human slaves. The people trapped with them. How do we add it to their food supply?”
Patrick didn’t say anything and it took me a minute to catch on to what he’d realized much quicker than I did.
When it hit me, the truth of what Icahn had left here for me to do, my head throbbed. “He wants me to poison human slaves, people who have spent their lives underground, being abused by Vampires. I should go ahead and poison them because in doing so I can end the undead, thus freeing those people who caught the virus and have been trapped in that kind of hell for generations now.”
“You won’t have to do it. I’ll do it.” Patrick shook his head.
“No.” I put my hand on his arm. “Neither of us will be doing it.”
Because I knew I couldn’t. I wasn’t in a position to decide who lived and died. Unlike Icahn, I did not want to play God. I didn’t want to make those decisions.
“What do we do with this?” Patrick whispered.
“Close it up. Destroy it.”
“The Vampires will come. They already are. They’ll storm at us in droves. People will die.”
Some of us would die. But nothing had changed in this respect. Some of us would always die. I should have perished on my sixteenth birthday, or could have any day since.
“Patrick, do you want to go up there and tell those people we’re going to poison other humans to save ourselves?”
I couldn’t see it happening. Maybe I was wrong; maybe I didn’t understand the ways of the world. Icahn had said he hadn’t been able to use the vials, to do what he had to do to kill the Vampires.
He’d thought I could do it? Well, he’d been wrong. I couldn’t have anything to do with this. No one had selected me for leadership.
“We have to destroy it. We can’t give anyone a choice.”
I knew what he meant. Someone who disagreed with us would come down and do it themselves.
“Is that justice? Do we have the right?”
“Rachel, it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.” He picked up the vial and opened up the lid. I half expected him to fall to the floor or turn green from exposure. Instead, he poured it out.
I followed suit and soon we had destroyed the vials. Whatever choice others would have made, my father-in-law and I got rid of the poison before it could be used.
If we lived to pay for it, then so be it.
We were better than Icahn. For that, I could be grateful. In the end, he hadn’t won because we had done the right thing. At least for us.
***
“What was down there?” Darren called out when we came up. I wondered if he knew. Had Icahn’s people been aware? I stared at the man who had rescued me but remained a bit of a stranger. If he knew, I couldn’t tell. He looked as confused as everyone else.
“Nothing we could use.”
Patrick stalked off without uttering another word and all eyes turned to me. “You know what? I’m exhausted. I’m going to bed now.”
If it worked for Patrick, why couldn’t it for me? Only I knew it wouldn’t be simple. At least one Warrior, my husband, was never going to leave it alone. Not until I told him the truth.
It took him less than a minute to catch up with me. “What was down there? What did you and Dad do you don’t want to talk about?”
I looked behind me to make sure no one else was with us. When I found us alone, I spoke quietly. “Poison. We could have poisoned the humans being held by the Vampires, which would, in turn, end the Vamps.”
Chad didn’t say anything for a minute. Then he spoke. “You couldn’t do it. Neither could Dad.”
“Could you?” I challenged him.
“No. But maybe others could. They’ll go down and do it.”
“No.” I wanted him to really understand what we had done. “We poured it out.”
“Sometimes I’m so grateful at not having to be you. For all the hellish decisions you have to make.”
I smiled at him. “Sometimes I have to make easy ones, good ones.”
He leaned over and kissed me. “Thank goodness.”
***
The hordes of Vampires charged us all night. One after another felt the end of my stake. By the end of the night, my good arm ached so badly I could barely move it.
“You okay?” Micah hugged me while we celebrated the sunlight. Finally, we headed toward the elevators.
“Yes. You?”
Micah nodded. “I’m good, and I’ve decided to go off with Deacon.”
“I’m not surprised.”
“I know you’re not.” He bounced around like he hadn’t just endured the same night I had. “Thanks for basically suggesting it.”
“Yep.” I wanted my pillow. And Chad. Maybe not in that order.
“Did you get through the night okay? I saw your hubby. He went down with Dad a little while ago.”
“I’m a Warrior, Micah. This is what I do, what you do, what we all do. I may not have picked it but every time I go out to fight I’m going to do my very best.”
“Thanks, Rachel. How will I get along without these little pep talks?”
I elbowed him in the side. Jerk.