I stood like that for a few minutes staring at the bleak hard ground under the pines while they joked and talked jovially behind me boosted by their snack. There was a creak from one of the wagons and I turned to see my brother’s head emerging from under the canvas covering. He took in the scene with one glance and his face instantly became a confusing mix of signs. He seemed to scowl at everyone while grinning at them conspiratorially at the same time. I could see how everyone allowed themselves to be fooled into believing that he was still human. He seemed different from the vampires, set apart in some way that was not just a result of his leadership. I could almost believe it. I felt a great kinship towards him. “Let’s get this show on the road,” he said then whistled to alert the humans who’d moved away to escape the thrall’s interest and despite it being the height of the day we pressed on. I climbed into the shade of the back of the wagon and curled up beside a stack of disassembled mortars and pretended to sleep as we road south.
We rode on into the next day before we halted again in sight of a bridge the crossed the upper reaches of the Mississippi. Abdul and I had crossed it on our journey northward. My brother asked if the General had any outpost at the bridge and I told him that there was none when I’d come through the area, but he halted and sent out four vamps as scouts. When three of the four had returned we began travelling south though the thralls weren’t given their heads and we moved at a much slower pace. We rolled through the abandoned town, nothing more than a few abandoned brick façade buildings and derelict docks, without incident. A pack of dogs loped towards us but turned around and trotted away once they’d caught our scent. We continued southward for a couple of hours along the roadway before we once again halted. The fourth scout had rejoined us along the road and had spent the rest of the travel in conversation with my brother. When we stopped it was as if everyone had a task but me, everyone knew what to do and they went about unpacking mortars, checking their packs and machine guns, and corralling and securing the thralls in a portable pen that they’d brought. I checked my weapons to appear to be doing something, but the machine guns were beyond my experience. I made sure that it was loaded and that I had extra rounds in my pack then did the same thing for the pistol and finally made sure that my knife was secure in its sheath. Peter spoke to us as we worked. “Charles has scouted one of the General’s outposts. It’s located a few miles from here on the river. He didn’t see any of the General’s vampires, but he knows that they are there.” I remembered the outpost. It was nothing more than a couple of vamps and a small boat. “This looks like an easy target but let’s not forget who we’re dealing with. We don’t want word of our attack escaping to warn outposts further south.” He then divided the vamps and men into small groups again ignoring me and even making the effort to keep me from hearing his instructions. As the vamps left our position in very unmartial groups I walked over to stand near my brother who unusually was standing alone looking off to the southeast, presumably towards the outpost his vamps would soon assault. His usual group of bodyguards formed up around him once the rest of the vampires had moved out; Peter, the crazy old vamp, the middle-aged vamp, the twins, and me. My brother shook himself out his gaze and we began to trot down the road at clip that would have easily run down any human, but we easily kept up. After a few minutes we left the road and moved under the barren branches of oaks and birches. The sun was low on the horizon. Other than the slight scuttle of our footsteps over the fallen leaves, needles, and soil I could hear nothing but the calls of birds that silenced at our approach and then continued their songs as we passed by. We climbed a small hill as dusk fell and my brother made us crawl to its top so as not to silhouette ourselves against the orange skyline. An owl watched us with its enormous blinking eyes then fluttered off on silent wings. Eli pulled a pair of binoculars from his leather satchel and studied the small building which constituted the General’s forces’ outpost. I had come through here with Abdul but he’d been in no mood for companionship since he’d killed the Iowan vamps so we’d basically moved on after a lanky vampire had eyed me hungrily and endured Abdul’s haughty responses to his questions regarding our purpose. I’d told my brother as much back at the village, earlier in the day and once again as we climbed the hill. The outpost was a white block building on a row of nondescript buildings on the street nearest the river. Their backs opened on a grassy strip and the remnants of docks. One dock had been rebuilt and had a small boat tied to it, which
