The Regulators - 02 (18 page)

“Because I don’t think Kingsley can jump thirty feet to the
neighbor’s rooftop,” Jax answered.

“Yeah, but what if…,” Nick said before Jax cut him off with
a wave of his hand.

We had lost a teammate. We had lost a dear friend. It hit
the entire team pretty hard. So hard, in fact, that none of us really spoke the
rest of the evening.

“
Nobody went after him
?”

How could we? The vampire traveled over the rooftops. Plus,
there were zombies out there and we couldn’t let them see us, or we would never
get out of the safe zone. It was a bad situation. All of us wanted to go after
him; it was just impossible at that moment.

“
I’m sorry, that was
insensitive of me. I should have realized that you would have done something
had you been able
.”

Well, I didn’t say that we didn’t do anything. We just had
to wait until daylight.

“
Why daylight
?”

Daylight is when the zombies finally drifted away. Jaxon
stayed up the entire night waiting for them to leave. It finally happened when
the sun rose over the mountains.

Jaxon and Dudley ran out the door, gathered the canisters
and returned to my house in a matter of seconds. It actually took us a bit to
figure out how to open the canisters, but as soon they were opened, Jaxon
changed into a new bite suit and a new vest.

The new vest was pretty cool it had a skull and crossbones
design on it. Except that instead of crossbones, they were musket pistols and
the skull had a bandana over its mouth like an old western bandit. He also
received a new mp7 to replace the one Nick had commandeered. Nick had wanted
the vest with the skull and crossbones, but that was never going to happen.

The big oaf wasn’t left out, however; Jaxon had gotten him a
bite suit and gear as well. Both of them also had new earpiece radios. The rest
of the gear consisted of back pack supplies like food and ammo.

When the ammo had all been divided between us, Jaxon asked
if I was ready. I had no idea what he was talking about.

“Am I ready for what?” I asked.

“You, me and Merrick are going to go look for Kingsley,”
Jaxon said.

“What do you want us to do while you’re out?” Dudley asked.

“Just stay here and keep our survivors safe,” Jaxon
answered.

“Jax,” I said. “It’s daylight. Why are we searching for him
in the daylight? What about the zombies? They could spot us.”

“Because we need the daylight to follow any signs or track
we may find, and in case you’re wondering why I’m taking you, it’s because you
are the only hunter in the room with tracking experience.”

“I can track,” Nick answered.

“Anyway,” Jaxon said. “Get your gear and let’s get going.”

Jaxon was on my neighbor’s roof when Hardin contacted him.
It was easy enough to listen in; Hardin was using the open frequency.

“Jaxon, can you read me?” Hardin said.

“Yup,” Jax answered.

“You already lost one teammate. Let’s get you boys out of
there before you lose anymore.”

“Not gonna happen,” Jax answered.

“I was afraid that you were going to say that. Come this
evening, I’m going to pull out the other teams until this mess is over and done
with. I don’t want to risk good men.”

“That’s your choice. What kind of information have you found
out about vampires for me?” Jax asked.

“All we really know at this point is that sunlight will kill
them,” Hardin answered. “I have Miriam and Ivana going through the old, old
records. Maybe they will come up with something new, but I doubt it.”

“So if we found out where this thing hides during the day
and drag her out into the sunlight, she’ll burn?”

“I believe so, yes.”

“Alright,” Jaxon said. “I will contact you later.”

A few moments later, he was standing next to me.

“She didn’t stop on that rooftop as far as I can tell. I
think she kept on going up the hill. There are scuff marks on the edges of the
roof where somebody scraped against the stucco. I’m guessing that she was
dragging Kingsley, and he was putting up a fight.”

“Makes sense to me,” I answered. “Kingsley is a big boy and
she’s a somewhat small woman from what I could tell. He’d definitely have
enough length on him to scuff up against some things.”

“What’s at the end of your street? I’ve never been up there
before.”

“There are a few other streets that intersect, but if you
continue going up it’s just desert and then mountains.”

Jax appeared to think about this for a minute while he knelt
down and scratched Merrick behind the ears.

“I doubt a vampire would want to be stuck in the desert come
sunrise,” Jaxon said when he was ready.

“Not if a suntan is fatal,” I replied.

“Let’s grab a Jeep and take a drive up towards the mountain
and see if we find anything near the desert.”

We didn’t bother to stop back in my house and let everyone
know what we were up to. Instead, Jax just tapped his earpiece and let Dudley
know where we were going as we drove off in the Jeep that wasn’t so beaten up.

We didn’t see any zombies. The bastards still weren’t very
active in the daylight even though it was rather cool outside. Well, at least
as cool as El Paso can get during the day. It’s the nights that get pretty cold
during the winter months. Zombies apparently dislike the sun and not the heat,
at least that’s my belief. The sun won’t stop them from charging if they see
you, but they are certainly more active at night.

This is actually a
much debated topic. Some people think that zombies prefer to avoid the sun,
while others feel that they seek shelter to avoid the heat of the day
.

The ride to the desert didn’t take very long.

Once there, the three of us left the safety of the Jeep and
began to walk along the edge of where the desert began. We were looking for
footprints in the sand or anything else that would tell us that there had been
recent activity in the area.

I thought we were pretty much grasping at straws. The odds
were against us. From what I understood, the vampire preferred to keep herself
off the ground. She liked the tops of houses and buildings, that way she could
swoop down like some demented bird of prey and attack.

Imagine my surprise when Merrick found footprints.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I would have found them myself.
It wasn’t like they were hidden or anything. Merrick just happened to be
walking about ten feet in front of us so she was the first one to find them.
Leave it to Jax to be an asshole.

“Wow,” Jax said. “Makes me wonder why I even brought you.”

“I would have found them,” I answered.

“One of these days,” Jaxon said with a smirk. “You are going
to need to prove to me that you’re actually good at something.”

“I’m going through a divorce,” I said.

It probably wasn’t the right time to bring it up. I just,
for some reason, I blurted it out.

“I know you are,” Jax said. “I didn’t want to ask you about
it. I figured you would come to me if you wanted to talk.”

“I don’t know that I want to talk about it,” I said. “I just
wanted to tell you myself.”

“That’s fine,” Jax said. “I’m here if you need me and if you
don’t, well, that’s okay too.”

I changed the subject again as we approached the tracks.

“What do you think?” I asked.

The tracks were obvious. In fact, they seemed a little bit
too obvious. They even had an evident drag mark.

“Too early for me to tell,” Jaxon said. “We might as well
follow them. Not much chance of anything sneaking up on us during the day in
the open desert.”

We followed the tracks for about two hours. They led us in a
straight path with no deviation. I was actually beginning to feel a bit warm
under the sun when we finally came to a small scrub brush covered hill. The
tracks went around the hill. We followed them and came upon a grisly scene once
we reached the opposite side.

There were two different sets of tracks in the sand. One set
of the tracks were the barefoot tracks that we had been following. The other
set belonged to a very large combat boot. There was blood everywhere, along
with massive amounts of disturbances in the sand. Kingsley had fought back.

There was a large mound of piled up sand off to one side
that called our attention. Something had been buried there and it didn’t take a
genius to figure out what. Jaxon knelt beside the grave and gently put his hand
upon the sand. I was quiet; actually, we were both quiet. We had just found the
grave of our friend and teammate.

Merrick gave a little bark in the distance. Jaxon went over
to her. She had found Kingsley’s pistol. We didn’t look for the rest of his
belongings.

The walk back to the Jeep was a long one. I didn’t want to
break the silence. The look on Jaxon’s face was rather intimidating, but I
couldn’t take the quiet any longer.

“Are we just going to leave him there?” I asked.

“For now,” Jax answered. “But we’ll be back for him someday.
He needs a proper funeral in a proper place. I won’t leave him there forever.”

We continued on in silence for another half an hour when
Jaxon suddenly stopped.

“I don’t get it,” Jaxon said. “I just don’t get it.”

“What don’t you get?”

“Why here?” Jaxon said. “She could have killed him anywhere.
She could have killed him on your neighbor’s roof if she had wanted to. Why
drag him all the way into the desert, and why bury him?”

“I don’t know,” I answered. “I guess when you think about
it, it doesn’t make much sense. Maybe she just wanted to take her time with
him.”

“She didn’t have to come out here to do that. No, I’m
missing something. I don’t know what, but I’m missing something.”

“I don’t know man, maybe she’s just messed up in the head.”

“I’ll tell you one thing,” Jaxon said. “I’m going to kill
her. I’m going to find her and I’m going to rip her into pieces.”

Jaxon wasn’t going to break down and fall apart. He’s just
not that type of person. He’s the type of person that can actually push
emotions aside and do what needs to be done. He would mourn the loss of his
friend someday, but it wasn’t going to be any time soon.

“
Has Jaxon always been
like that
?”

Yes, he’s never been a very emotional guy. He has emotions,
of course. I realize that a lot of people out there say he’s pretty cold
hearted, but he’s not. He was hurting, hurting very badly, but he wasn’t about
to fall apart. There would be time for that after he got his revenge.

We walked in silence all the way to the road where we first
saw the tracks. Merrick had gotten there ahead of us and she was staring down
the road at the nearest house.

When the two of us reached her, Jaxon began to stare off
towards the house as well. Merrick even gave a small little growl. I was
completely clueless as to what they were doing.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“I’m not sure, but something.”

“Is it that house?” I asked.

“Hold on a second,” Jax said.

I waited quietly as he stared and stared at the house. I was
still at a complete loss.

“There,” Jax said. “Do you hear it?”

“Hear what?” I answered.

“There’s a pounding noise coming from that house.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m pretty sure,” Jax said.

Without another word, he and Merrick took off towards the
house in question. I was left trying to catch up to them. It wasn’t a situation
I was very comfortable with to be totally honest. Jaxon had the ability to
survive in this environment indefinitely, but I didn’t. I didn’t even like
leaving the vehicle if you want me to be totally truthful, whereas Jaxon
thought nothing of it.

I was slightly out of breath when I caught up with them at
the front door of the house. Everything was eerily quiet. Something in the air
just didn’t feel right. I didn’t want to say anything and end up looking like a
pussy, but something was wrong. I just knew it.

“Do you hear anything?” I asked.

“No, it’s completely quiet in there now.”

Jaxon was giving me a dirty look because I was still
breathing heavy after my run to the house.

“What do you want to do?” I asked.

Jaxon didn’t answer me; he just clicked his earpiece.

“Hardin,” Jaxon said. “Are there any known survivors around
our current location?”

“Negative,” Hardin said over the radio. “We haven’t received
a single distress call in or around your current location. It’s a no man’s land
out there.”

I completely agreed with Hardin. The neighborhood around the
house had a very ghost town sort of look to it. All of the windows were boarded
up, which is what normally happens when people are trying to survive a zombie
invasion, but there was also sand all over the road and sidewalks. The area
seemed very deserted.

“Thanks,” Jaxon said.

“Not a problem,” Hardin replied before clicking off.

Jaxon then backed up to the mailbox and gave the house a
thorough scan. Apparently he arrived at the same conclusion that I had, because
he shook his head and motioned for me to come over to him.

“I must be hearing things,” Jaxon said. “Maybe I was just
hoping…”

He didn’t finish his thought. He didn’t have to.

“You wanna head back to the Jeep?” I asked.

“I guess so.”

Jaxon gave out a quick whistle to get Merrick’s attention.
She was busy sniffing around the side of the house, but she bolted to Jaxon’s
side immediately after the whistle and the three of us set off towards the
Jeep.

I heard a thump.

Jaxon didn’t hear it. He was lost somewhere in his own
thoughts, but I heard it. It was a dull and muffled thump, and it was indeed
coming from inside the house. One thought raced through my mind. Could it be
Kingsley that was somehow trapped somewhere inside, and he was banging on
something in the hopes that someone would help him?