Lovecraft. That was the dude. Boring old shit. I should have stuck to gangster novels.
Mass wasn’t exactly sure when it happened, but he suddenly felt better. After so much pain, the lack of it came like a mirage in a white-hot desert. He almost didn’t believe it at first, but then he realised he felt okay. “I-I’m better.”
Everyone in the room jolted, and he realised it was because he had barely spoken since Rick had laid hands on him. It was Rick who replied. “Good. We must go soon. Crimolok will be planning mankind’s demise.”
“Yeah, okay, Batman,” said Smithy. “Let the poor bastard catch a breath before we ask him to jump out the nest. Mass, you look better, but don’t rush it, okay?”
Mass took a deep breath and tried to get a sense of himself. There was a sharp pinch in his trapezius, but it wasn’t debilitating. His chest was a little tight, like he had asthma or a twenty-a-day habit, but there was no pain. “I-I think I can stand. Someone, help me up.”
Tox came forward, no longer limping. He offered an arm. “I got you, brother.”
Mass pulled himself up and felt light on his feet, not as if he had lost weight, but more as if his body had been filled with helium. He took a step and stumbled, but then got his balance. “I’m ready to get out of here,” he said. “The next face I want to see is General Wickstaff’s, followed by a bottle of the strongest booze she has in her private stash. She and I have a lot to talk about.”
Addy grinned. “She’d better promote you to top banana after the shit we’ve been through.”
Mass doubted it. They’d done nothing but go from one disaster to another since leaving Portsmouth well over a week ago. They’d made things worse, not better. Mass was just grateful to be alive. It gave him a chance to make up for his mistakes. “Let’s just focus on getting back home.”
Smithy patted Mass on the back. “Glad to see you back on your feet, big guy.”
Mass went to the door and yanked it open. “Everyone, fall out.”
Tony and his men encountered the Urban Vampires further along the road than expected, but it only made the plan run more smoothly. The ragtag band of warriors appeared late in the day, claiming to be conducting their own search for Mass. No rational argument existed against combining forces, so after a small show of reluctance, Tony accepted their presence. He tried not to reveal his satisfaction as he exchanged a handshake with the man he’d arranged all this with beforehand. Cullen was ready to do whatever was necessary to ensure Mass’s eventual safety – and had promised to keep Tony alive too if his men turned on him. In the meantime, they would assume the roles of uneasy allies.
“We don’t have to mix,” said Cullen, feigning derision as he spoke with Tony, “but it makes sense to stick close to each other. There’s safety in numbers out here.”
Tony pretended to mull it over before nodding. “I see no valid reason not to work together, seeing as our mission is the same. I understand that your man Mass was clearing an area south of the Wessex Downs. Is that correct to your understanding?”
Cullen nodded. “We’ve been working to secure Oxford, along with the areas south and west of it. We were making good headway, which is why it’s strange that Mass never made it back. He left Portsmouth armed to the teeth with a dozen Vampires along for the ride. Not to mention our girl, Addy, who’s tougher than the lot of ’em put together.”
“Addy? That her surname?”
“Yeah, Addison. Urban Vampires don’t go by first names. Most of us are running away from who we were, so we give ourselves nicknames. New name, new start.”
“I used to be a sergeant,” said Tony. “Never thought I’d ever be anything else – certainly not a sodding colonel. I suppose we’re all different people nowadays. Probably the only way to keep the past from swallowing us up. We’ve lost a lot. Everything, really.”
Cullen nodded. “Once we find Mass, we can chat about that some more.”
Tony side-eyed his men, searching for tells. He didn’t know for certain that they had an agenda, and his inherent trust in the brotherhood of fighting men made it difficult for him to condemn them. Cullen could order his men to raise their shotguns and deal with the threat right now, but there was too much risk that some, or even all, of the men were innocent.
“Shall we get going… um, sorry, what was your rank, Cullen?”
“Don’t have one. Urban Vampires are a family, not a unit.”
Tony detected the eye-rolls of his men, but he couldn’t chastise them. “Right, well, shall we make a move? The afternoon’s showing us its arse, and I don’t want to get caught in the open when night falls.”
Cullen waved a hand. “Lead the way, Colonel. We’ll trail back a few and watch your tail.”
Tony pretended to consider things once again. He needed to act as though he were suspicious of this man and his ‘family’. “Not planning on shooting us in the back, are you, Mr Cullen?”
Cullen chortled and shared a laugh with his Vampires. “That might be how you operate, Colonel, but if I want a man dead, I look him in the eye first. I thought we were on the same side. You doubt it?”
“It’s my job to doubt, Mr Cullen. The safety of my men depends upon it.”
Cullen bowed slightly. “I promise I won’t shoot you in the back. I just want to find out what happened to Mass and his team.”
Satisfied, Tony got moving, and just like that, he had embedded his own secret bodyguard. It pained him to anticipate a bloodbath, but in war
