VAMPIRE

by Arthur Browne

What the hell is going on? Open your eyes so I can see.

Major Tucker kept his eyes tightly shut. He needed time to gather his thoughts. He had to make his captors think he was still unconscious. Two men were hauling him, holding his arms, and his boot tips were dragging behind him through the dirt. His side hurt and he could feel blood leaking slowly from the bullet wound.

I could feel hands gripping us under the arms and the dull, throbbing ache of a serious wound in our side, but my host’s thoughts were too jumbled for me to get any information from him. It felt like he hadn’t slept for days.

“Let’s set him down for a minute,” said the sergeant who held one of the major’s arms to the private who held the other. The two men lowered their limp prisoner to the ground laying him face down. “We are only a mile from the pick up point,” the sergeant continued. “The Thumper should be inbound by the time we get there.”

I could hear them talking but I didn’t know what it meant or who they were. But my host recognized the voice.

The major turned his head towards the voice. He spit dirt from his mouth and said, “Sergeant Lorenzo. we need to talk.”

Yeah. Talking is good. But the sergeant had other ideas.

“Shut up, major,” the sergeant growled. “We have orders not to listen to you. Just bring you back dead or alive. I’m sorry I had to shoot you but you didn’t give me any choice. I always liked you, major, but whatever you have been up to you really pissed off somebody high up in the chain of command.”

Wait, your own guys shot you? Now that is interesting. I waited to find out more but the major slipped into unconsciousness and I went right along with him.

The major came to being dragged through the forest once again. He struggled to clear his throat and push the pain aside. He had something important to say if he could just remember what it was. His ragged thoughts were interrupted by rifle fire coming from somewhere close by. He felt himself being dropped on his face again.

You sure lead an interesting life major, I thought to myself as our face slammed painfully into the dirt. I heard footsteps approaching and a new voice spoke above us.

“These two are dead,” said the voice, “but the officer they were dragging is still alive.”

Another voice said something about taking us somewhere, but we slipped back into the darkness before I heard it all.

Thousands of feet above and dozens of miles to the West, a stealth attack aircraft slipped quietly through the darkness. Somewhere in the vast stillness of space, a spy satellite had been watching the events on the ground with rapt fascination. Images sent live to a gleaming corporate office building in South   Africa had cause consternation. Messages had been sent bouncing around the globe, waking powerful men from their slumber. Panicked words spread by various secure channels crisscrossed the world. At last a consensus was reached, and from the corporate tower of glass a communications specialist sent a coded text to the airplane circling thousands of miles away.

We woke once again, this time with the sound of an engine rumbling nearby. We were on our back on a stretcher bouncing along some rough track in a vehicle of some sort. My host forced his gummy eyes open and looked around. It was still dark but we could make out three armed men sitting in the back of the truck watching us.

“I am major Tucker,” croaked the major. “I am in intelligence. I need to speak to an officer right away.”

Now we are getting somewhere. What is this big secret you need to share? It must be something big. You don’t even care which side you share it with.

The young lieutenant exchanged glances with his men. “We are taking you to the hospital, Major. You have lost a lot of blood. I am sure there will be someone there you can talk to.”

Oh come on. But the major passed out once more.

The copilot finished reading the decoded message. “We have orders to take out a vehicle,” he said into his helmet mic as he punched the coordinates into the nav com. The pilot didn’t respond, just put the aircraft into a banking turn.

We woke up once again. This time we were being carried in the stretcher into a large building. I tried to follow the disjointed thoughts of the major, but all I could get before blackness descended once again was that he really wanted to tell someone… anyone… something…

Far, far above, the satellite watched with unblinking eyes. And once again information was relayed to powerful men who in turn sent out their own orders. And the bomber crew once again received a coded command.

This time we woke up in a comfortable bed. Our uniform had been cut away and the wound bandaged. We were getting fresh blood pumped into us. I looked through the major’s eyes at the pretty face of a nurse leaning over us.

The copilot read the new orders. “Change of plans,” he told the pilot. “We have to take out a building.” He punched the new coordinates into the computer. His eyes got a little wider when he saw the new target. “It’s a fucking hospital,” he whispered through clenched teeth.

The nurse checked something on a monitor. She looked worried, but when she turned back she gave us a warm, encouraging smile. She laid a hand on our shoulder. I could feel the major slipping away again.

“Ask for confirmation,” the pilot insisted. He put the bomber into a slow, rolling turn over the target.

We jerked awake with a rush. I could feel the major’s heart pounding inside of us. The pretty nurse was looking into our eyes and her hand was on our forehead. A new face leaned over us. A young man. A mean-looking man. I didn’t like him already.

“I asked the nurse to give you something to wake you up,” the young man explained. “I am captain Larkin. I work for intelligence, as I believe you do. You have something you want to tell me?”

I don’t want you to tell this asshole anything. But I really want to hear what you have to say.

The copilot glanced once more at the pilot. “There’s something strange going on. These orders didn’t come through regular channels. They weren’t sent by the base or area command. They came directly from corporate headquarters.”

The major cleared his dry throat. He was sweating and his eyes darted around the room. They came to rest on the pretty young nurse. I could feel his heart pounding and for a moment I could see in his memory another pretty, young face. I couldn’t tell who it was. His thoughts were still racing by like a river through the rapids.

“They want us to flatten a hospital,” the pilot stated coldly, “and there is no way to prove where the orders came from.” He felt his stomach beginning to churn. “We won’t even be able to prove we ever got any such orders. You can’t keep something like this a secret. We are well and truly fucked.”

Well, go ahead. Spit it out. Let’s find out what all the fuss is about. Like why your own guys shot you and you were still willing to tell them your little secret. And now you are just as happy to spill your guts to the other side.

The major continued to stare into the nurse’s eyes, holding her attention with pure desperation. He began to speak to the nurse and ignored the young intelligence officer completely. “The two companies are part of the same corporation.” He spoke slowly despite his racing thoughts and pounding heart.

Okay, what?

The nurse exchanged a glance with the young intelligence captain then returned her sympathetic gaze to the wounded man’s.

The major decided to start over from the beginning. As he gathered his thoughts I suddenly started to see what it was he was trying to tell them. Holy shit.

The copilot agreed with the pilot, but he didn’t see what choice they had.

Tell them! We need to stop this.

“Force Tech and Uniforce, the companies that hire all of us… they are both subdivisions of the same corporation. They are hiring mercs and selling weapons and tech to the rebels and the government forces.” The major paused and clenched his eyes shut. “We are being played for fools. We are dying for nothing. For worse than nothing. So some assholes can make a few bucks. To keep the stockholders happy. I don’t mind risking my life for a paycheck, but these guys don’t want either side to win. They are going to keep the forces even on both sides so it can go on forever. Peace is just bad for business.”

I was mad. And my life was already a living hell. I didn’t even have my own life anymore. I had other people’s lives, and only for a little while. And every short life I lived through was ending so some sick, rich assholes could live the high life. If I had my own eyes, I think I would cry.

The young intelligence captain pushed the nurse aside and leaned over the major. “Are you sure about this? Is this some kind of trick?” He was angry and confused.

Does this sound like something that someone would make up? Does it sound like a joke? This is too fucking sick to be anything but the truth.

In the Vampire high above, the copilot pushed a button and six smart bombs fell away towards the hospital. When the Vampire landed back at base the two crewmen were escorted to an empty hanger by a man in civilian clothes for a debriefing. The man politely held the door open for the crewmen and let them pass into the hanger in front of him. As the door closed, he pulled a silenced pistol from under his coat and shot each of the men in the backs of their heads.