The Plagues Series: Emergency

Chapter 12

"The Iranian government has agreed to send military to aid to Poland. This comes after the increased threats from Western forces and the establishment of a siege of Warsaw. NATO has already reported commencing artillery strikes on the city.

"In other news, AMICA forces have reportedly crossed the border into Austria. Over the weekend, AMICA stated an aggressive assault on the city of Vienna is currently under way. AMICA is also on high alert as sightings of scout drones have been spotted over Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland. This after Russian President Anatoly Volkov announced that AMICA has 'a heavy military installation of its own.'"

Rogers switched off the radio, jarring us all out of our daze. "More bad news for ya, kids. Because of the shit storm brewing back west, your training completion deadline's been moved up. They want boots on the ground in Korea by the end of March."

"That's in, like, three months," I muttered in part to myself.

"Thanks for the math, son,"Rogers said, his tone blatantly insincere. "So that means break time's over."

"But we just finished a training night," Michael said.

"Because of the shortened schedule, things are going to progress much quicker," Absol said, coming over next to Rogers. He got a sudden glint in his eye and sat on the arm of a couch next to Zed. "Do you know what is meant by heavy military installation?"

We were silent. I noticed some of the humans making their way over to our huddle.

Absol smiled plainly. "It means nuclear weapons."

Zed's face nearly dropped off his head, and the faces of the humans were nearly as pale as ours.

"So, why don't we just flatten them already?" Zed said exictedly.

Absol's mouth flattened out and his eyes rolled deftly to Zed.

"Because this means they have them too, smart guy," Michael said.

Zed made a face at Michael.

"Exactly," Rogers said.

"How long until the GRI gets reinforcements to the western front?" I asked.

"We expect by Thursday, two days," Rogers replied.

"Isn't the GRI also supporting the east?" Zed said.

"Yes, with China and Russia,"Absol said.

"How does Iran have troops to spare?"

"They're big and they're not under immediate threat," Michael said. "Damn, how did you get to be here?"

"Hey, I'm every bit the soldier you are!" Zed shot back.

"Yeah? You ever seen live combat, kid?"

"Have you?"

"Yeah! I have! I was a cop in L.A.!"

Our eardrums were split by a sharp, rallying whistle from Rogers. "Let's save it for the battlefield!"

"So, what exactly are we doing today?" I asked after Michael and Zed took a moment to gather themselves.

"An excellent question!" Absol said. "We're expecting a special shipment in today for our nocturnal friends."

"What kind of special shipment?" Michael asked.

"The kind that will allow you to operate in the day."

Us vamps were stunned silent while the humans murmured excitedly.

"How is this possible?" Jay said.

"Special, full-body armour that is bullet proof and protects vamps from the sun," Rogers said.

"The Chinese have been working on this steadily since the 2050's," Absol said.

I noticed Michael's eyes suddenly narrow.

"Get something in ya!" Rogers ordered. "We'll be getting started soon!"

Just after sunrise, three trucks arrived with the special armour. Us vamps all waited anxiously by the door as the shipments were carried in in special containers. We had to put on special jumpsuits, similar to that of what astronauts wear, then we got our armour fitted on.

The body was made of a special material similar to kevlar, but tougher and could take more abuse. It was fairly unencumbering and easy to move around in. The head and legs were attached separately by a series of buckles and zippers, using magnets and other seals as reinforcement. The view was through a head piece with a special one hundred and eighty degree visor, made of similar material to the windows on the trains, dimming the light for our sensitive pupils and also held out UV rays. Parts of the head piece had sound sensitive patches that worked like microphones and fed sound into the user. There was also a built in head-set that was programmable via a wrist device that also acted as a HUD. The suit was also air tight with a passage for air expulsion out the side upon the head piece being put on; the last thing I'm sure the Chinese wanted was vampires rotting all over their million dollar projects. Over top the suit we donned our ammo vests, utility belts, and our weapons.

Our first steps outside were fairly intimidating and strange to say the least; most of us hadn't seen the light of day in years. The humans weren't sure how to react to our outfits; some were fascinated, while others seemed fearful of the sinister appearance.

"Alright, how about a run?" Rogers said.

This time, all twenty of us ran together along the bypass and back. Once we returned, we got into firearms training, mainly target practice. At around noon, the vamps were sent to rest up while the humans carried on with their day.

We got the night off that night to prepare for several weeks of day time drills. Things got more advanced over the next month. We started doing combat drills with dummy ammo. We were broken up into teams of ten – five humans, five vamps – and squared off in death matches. We then started carrying out capture-the-flag and search-and-destroy missions and drills.

By the start of the next month, we had advanced from alternating between being on the offensive and the defensive to both sides performing both tasks. By about halfway through the next month, mutts were thrown into the mix. This time it was vamps versus humans, with humans wearing colours of the enemy. We had a handful of humans on the mutts team wearing AMICA colours for further conditioning. Those who were on the enemy team wore similar suits worn by people used in police dog training.