Beyond The Fangs

Chapter 9

IZEL

It had been a week since our mini attack, and two new villages had been ambushed since then, leaving no survivors once again.

"Derkville and Freeds were attacked this past week, and as usual, no survivors," Smith told us grimly in the Tactics room as we went over stats.

"The rate at which they're attacking has reduced though," I said. "Right?"

"But they're still attacking," added another Vanquisher.

"But it's less," I pointed out. "From one village a day to less than three a week."

"That's because the villages are bigger now," Smith explained. "The vampires plan out their attacks rather than just going out in numbers and fighting, so because the villages are bigger, it takes them longer to attack."

And that was when it went off. A bulb.

"Let's reduce the rate of attacks then." I suddenly said.

The room suddenly went dead silent and all eyes shifted to me. Alek lightly nudged me, "This is the part where you elaborate," he whispered into my ear, no doubt also waiting to hear what I had to say.

Alek and I hadn't brought up the conversation we had about him seeing me as more than a friend. I didn't have enough courage to bring it up, and I was quite relieved when Alek didn't say anything about his confession either. It didn't make anything awkward between us or anything, but I couldn't help but notice that there had been a shift in our relationship, what with the constant glances during training, more skinship than usual, and the fact that I felt a foreign sensation every time I saw him.

"Oh," I cleared my throat before continuing. "The more populated a place is, the longer it takes to attack, right?"

"Right," Smith confirmed.

"That's because they want to make sure they leave no survivors, right?" I asked again.

"Right," Smith confirmed again.

"They want to be aware of any escape roots, any weaknesses, any hidden bunkers. Aware of tactics, formations and numbers. Our day-to-day routines. They want to finish the job in one go, right?"

"Stop saying right and just keep talking," Alek said. "We're listening."

I cleared my throat again, "so I was thinking, we should be consistently inconsistent. And not just us, but all the villages as well."

"Consistently inconsistent?" Asked Raymond on behalf of the whole room.

"We need to stop being predictable," I explained. "If we have a consistent way of guarding, one formation, one pattern, it'll be easier for the vampires to memorise it and attack us. They would know what they need to look out for and what to expect. But if we're... discombobulated," I blurted out for lack of a better word.

"Unpredictable works fine," Alek said, aiding my terrible English.

"Right, that," I said. "If we're unpredictable then it'll be harder for them to memorise anything, reducing the rates at which each village is attacked, and increasing the chances of survivors."

The room went quiet, taking in what I said. The silence was either because what I said was really dumb, or really smart, but judging by the grin I noticed playing on Smith's lips, it was the latter.

"That... actually makes sense," he said surprised. "That might just work."

Then from there, Smith helped me bring my idea to reality.

We came up with a bunch of formations, schedules and tactics to run with, and each day we selected—at random—which one to follow. Smith informed the remaining villages of the plan and they followed through with it just as we did.