Read Online Vigil by Craig Saunders, C. R. Saunders - Free Book Online Page B

chilled her to the bone.
    Eventually, the girl and the man were brought in. They both looked scared. It wasn’t surprising. They each had two armed guards in environment suits, one pushing them in wheelchairs. They were complete enclosed in nets, but they had been tied in, too, with silver chain.
    People at the aisle down the centre of the hall drew back as they passed. Everyone knew that the change always happened after a few hours of infection. By Tom’s calculation twelve hours had passed. A day’s isolation was standard procedure. A safe window. He didn’t think there was any danger. Still, his spine tingled. He understood the reason for isolation. The danger from infection was all too real. An outbreak within the complex might mean the end for many of them, maybe even all of them. There were too many lives at stake to take foolish risk. This, however, was one risk they had to take.
    The man was shaking, his tremors clearly visible. The girl seemed to be the calmer of the two.
    ‘I’m sorry for the precautions,’ began Jean, automatically addressing the man, even though it was obvious to everyone watching that the girl was his best chance of getting coherent answers. ‘I wonder if you would give us your names?’
    ‘Papa?’ said the girl. She spoke in French for a moment, but he didn’t answer. He was in his own nightmare. The girl shrugged and replied to Jean in a quiet but mature voice, in English, as his question had been posed.
    ‘I’m Nicole. This is my father.’
    ‘I know it’s uncomfortable for you in the net, but we must be extremely careful of infection. We need to ask you some questions. Can you help?’
    ‘I understand,’ she said, and Tom’s heart went out to her. Here was a girl who had been born brave. She reminded him instantly of Marie. He glanced at Marie and saw that a small smile played on her lips. He thought she probably felt the same way he did, watching the girl.
    ‘Can you tell us how many vampires brought you here?’
    ‘I don’t know, exactly, but they came in about twenty trucks and vans. I caught a glimpse of them before we set off.’
    ‘What kind of trucks? Armoured?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘They were green and brown. Like army trucks. Is that what you mean?’
    Jean smiled, a little patronising, but at least it was a show of emotion. He was treating her like a human.
    ‘Kind of, I suppose. Did you see any weapons?’
    ‘Some of them had guns. Most of them didn’t. Some of the trucks had big guns on the back. I don’t think they all had guns.’
    ‘Do you know what a tank is, Nicole?’
    ‘Sure I do. Like a car, but bigger, with a long gun on the front.’
    ‘That’s right. Did you see anything like that?’
    ‘Not coming with us, but I did see some like at the farm.’
    There were plenty of comments, but Samson held up a hand and the chatter settled down.
    Jean kept his face blank but he stumbled for a moment. He covered it with a cough and ploughed on.
    ‘Do you know where the base was, Nicole? Do you know how long it took you to get here?’
    ‘I didn’t have a clock or anything but it took four nights. They only drove at night. They’re vampires, of course. They can’t see very well in the daylight.’
    ‘No, they can’t.’
    ‘They see better now, though. Their leader got them wearing sunglasses.’
    There were a few curses, but Tom laughed. Marie just looked at him. He bit his lip.
    ‘I know we drove toward the setting sun. I could see the light through the blindfold. They let us out at sunset to go to the toilet. I don’t know if it helps, but we came over the mountains. We came from Switzerland.’
    All the breath in Tom’s lungs burst out suddenly. The blood drained from his face.
    ‘What was it like?’
    ‘A big base. Like this one. It went underground. But there was a big room under the ground. It was huge. They were fascinated by it. They made some people work on it. I think some of the vampires were really smart. They