The van was approaching a large building with a warehouse alongside it. There was no sign of anyone on top of it, or that there ever had been. It slowed as it got to a guard's station. The driver checked in with the armed familiar, and the gate was opened for it.
The van was driven to the warehouse and backed in as the sliding doors were opened from the inside. A few workers in dark, inconspicuous clothing were scattered around the premises, keeping busy with their appointed tasks. Most of the people outside were familiars. The vampires were inside the high-rise and the adjoining warehouse.
From a high window in the building, Deacon Frost watched the van approach. The room he was in was unlit save for the dim light from the workmen down below. He was dressed in black suit pants, a white shirt, shiny black shoes and a black leather jacket. He held a mobile phone to his ear and he was nodding as he lost sight of the vehicle. Tonight he appeared to be quite the businessman.
"So, you got it, no problems?" he said. He shrugged in response to something he heard. "Look, if we can figure out where these things came from, how to make 'em and how to control them, then it doesn't matter if we lose a couple of guys in the process. Yeah. I'll come down soon. Secure it, but don't get too much into the scientific shit until I get there." He hung up, then dialled a new number.
Another vampire entered the room as he waited for the person to pick up. This one was a huge brawny, ex-army psycho with a crew cut and a bad attitude to go with a massive bloodlust. He was dressed like a classic henchman, with the black leather coat and dark sunglasses. His lip seemed to be curled in a permanent scowl, drooping at the right so that the right fang was left exposed.
Frost held a hand up so that he wouldn't be interrupted.
"Yeah," he said into the phone. "Did you see if she took it?" he asked. "Well, why didn't you follow her?" He paused. "Blade! I kinda thought I'd see that asshole again but not this soon. You're sure she left with him? All right, well, track her down for me. Don't worry about him, this chick is kind of a lone wolf, she's not going to stay with the rest of them the whole night. I wanna know when she's alone. What? Are you f$king kidding me? All right then, I'll find her if you're unable to do one simple task for me. Just track down and keep an eye on Blade." He gave an exasperated huff as he snapped the phone closed.
"Why are you wasting time with this girl?" Crew-cut asked him.
"She's my weapon, or at least she's gonna be," Frost said, walking over the dark blue linoleum toward him, and tucking the phone in his coat pocket.
"But you're gonna waste your own time finding her?" Crew-cut insisted.
"It's not a problem, buddy," Deacon said, clapping him on the shoulder. "As soon as I start looking, I'll know pretty much exactly where she is. It's something to do with that ritual that brought me back, I'm not gonna bother explaining it to you."
"And how exactly is she going to be of use to us?" Crew cut asked.
"Well, for one thing, she is hot." Frost said, giving him a toothy grin. "And the taste of her is f$king unbelievable. For another, she is a vampire hunter, and she's very good at what she does. She can sense us. We convince her to specialise in purebloods, and she'll do our work for us."
"And if we don't convince her, and she remains sided with the humans?"
"I know her blood, man. It's powerful shit, and I know that she hasn't realised half of what she's capable of. I haven't figured out how yet, but I know that there is a way to use what she's got, to my benefit, even against her will. Once she's under my control, it won't just be the purebloods, the world 'll be at my feet. Until I figure out how, yes, I will send men to follow her. I don't want these animals that we've seen come after us, find her, get the better of her and kill her before I can use her."
"Fine, find her then. I'll bring her in for you, tonight." Crew-cut said.
Deacon laughed. "I think it'll be funny to watch you try, and die. Did I not just tell you that she's exceptionally good at killing our kind? Did I also say that she is powerful? I repeat, she is not your average vampire hunter. Besides, bringing her in is gonna be fun, I'm making that my job, but not yet. What I will do now is figure out where she is. Who have you got that can actually keep track of someone they're supposed to follow?"
"I've got a few people I can call now,"
"Good." Deacon said, looking out of the window. He sniffed and said, "She's close." He frowned. "Really close, actually." He grinned and chuckled. "Ha, she found us!"
"She's here?" Crew-cut said, looking ready to run off and take action.
"Yep, she's already in the building in fact. Don't go anywhere though." He held up a hand to stop the other vampire. "Let's see what she does." He walked over to a desk with a laptop and a landline. He sat down in the high-backed leather chair and picked up the phone.
"Yeah, it's me," he said into the receiver. "I want you to send me the security feed, in my office. Oh, you see her now, huh? No, don't hit the alarm, just quietly send a couple guys down there to keep her occupied, and give me the feed so I can watch," he ordered.
He grinned at the other vampire as he hung up the phone.
"Come here," he said, as he opened up the laptop. The screen showed a white, very clean looking room. Within the room was assorted monitors and machinery, and a couple of rows of plastic-encased 'donors', their forms only just visible through the pearl-coloured plastic. All different people who'd been picked up off the street had been put in induced comas, and suspended to be bled from. There were twenty to thirty people in the room, some hung at floor level, some suspended from above. There was movement at the back of the room.
Caitlyn was next to one of the rows of people. She took out her knife, and sliced down the plastic to free the first of them, a middle-aged man. She caught him as he fell, and yanked out the tubes attached to him. She lay him on the floor and put a hand to his forehead, closing her eyes.
Back in the office, Frost could feel a stirring in the blood that he'd 'borrowed' from the huntress. He shifted in the chair, fixated on what she was doing.
After a few long moments, the man's fingers twitched.
"I thought they were supposed to be brain-dead," Crew-cut said.
"They are, or at least they were," Frost replied.
Caitlyn remained motionless. Though Frost couldn't feel it as strongly now, he knew that power was still flowing through the girl and into the man. Abruptly the man coughed, startling Caitlyn into opening her eyes. She put a finger to her lips when the man looked at her. She took off her coat and gave it to the naked man, glancing up at the two dozen or so other people still suspended in plastic.
He sat up, putting the coat around himself.
"What's your name? Can you remember it?" Caitlyn asked, fiddling at her ear.
"H-Henry," the man stuttered.
"Henry," Caitlyn said, removing her earpiece, "I need you to help me. This isn't working right now, but I want you to listen to it for me. If you hear someone, talk to them and let me know ok?"
He took the earpiece and stared up at her. "What are you going to do?"
Caitlyn stood. "We're about to have company, so stay in back in the corner, out of the way." She took his arm and helped him shuffle into the corner. The camera had full view of the room, so Frost and Crew-cut saw the uniformed guards open the door and enter, holding up their guns.
Caitlyn calmly walked forward, slowly raising her hands in a gesture of surrender. Frost grinned, anticipating her next move. There were three guards, all vampires. All three dropped the guns as they started glowing, red-hot. The one on the left rushed at her. She pulled out a silver stake and staked him as he tried to barrel into her. The other two started fighting her hand to hand, but the same result occurred.
She looked back at the man. "Anything yet?"
"No," he said, looking frightened.
"Okay," she said, ignoring his fear. "Keep trying." She balanced the stake in her hand, and glanced upward at the camera, raising an eyebrow.
"Who are you?" the vampires in the office heard the man say as she threw the stake at the camera lens. The feed stopped abruptly.
Frost laughed, obviously amused. He picked up the phone, to tell security to lock down the floor she was on, but not to send any more men.
"You're just gonna let her ruin some of our stock and roam the floor at will?" Crew-cut asked.
"Nick, just relax, buddy." Frost said. "I'm just letting her amuse herself for a little while. Freeing all of those people will keep her busy for at least twenty minutes, maybe a little more if we keep sending down guys for her to pummel."
"I still say you should let me go get her," Nick said. "We'll lock her in a cell, and she won't be able to do any more damage."
Frost rolled his eyes. "One of her little party tricks is to burn things at a glance, vampires included. Even if you prove to be an actual threat to her, that'll only make her stop fighting hand-to-hand, and start up the magic f$king barbecue."
"Who said I'd take her head-on?"
"You can't sneak up behind her," Deacon said with an exasperated sigh, "because she'll instantly know you're there. I don't know what her limit is, but I think it could be anything up to a mile. And anyway, I thought you didn't like girls?" he teased. "Just don't worry about it, man, I've got it covered."
"Then what are we doing now?"
Frost got up from his seat and led the other vampire out. "We're gonna check out our other problem, these f$king hounds from hell. Let me worry about the girl."
"Jackpot," Caitlyn said as she found a storage closet, with assorted uniforms and raincoats inside. She left the door open and left it to the two newly freed ladies to organise clothes for themselves.
She sighed as she cut another one down. "This is gonna take forever," she said, laying a young teenage boy on the white tiled floor. She put a hand to his forehead, glancing up at the broken camera. "I don't have forever."
She brought the boy back to full consciousness and helped him stand, directing him to the closet. "No questions, I don't have time" she said to him. She looked over at Henry, who had exchanged her coat for a grey raincoat. "Anything yet?"
"Just crackling, miss." Henry said. "I thought I heard voices a moment ago, but it was just for a second, I didn't get a chance to say anything."
"Keep trying. I am going to need help to get all of you guys out of here," Caitlyn said, putting her coat back on and then cutting down two more men, her blade pointed away so she wouldn't accidentally nick them as they fell against her arms, and laying them down simultaneously.
"Where is here?" Henry asked, "I mean, if I get through, where do I tell them to come?"
"Bacto Industries, in the northern part of the city," Caitlyn answered, closing her eyes to try and heal both men at the same time.
"Miss," one of the women called out. "There are guns here, in the closet."
"Good. Shh." Caitlyn said shortly, trying to concentrate. Both men gasped, opening their eyes. "Don't panic," Caitlyn said. "We're going to get you out of here." She stood and went to the closet. "Anyone know how to accurately fire a shotgun?"
One of the men on the ground coughed, and raised an arm to indicate that he did. "I do." He had a no 1 haircut, a slightly beaked nose, a strong-set mouth and grey eyes. He looked young, probably twenty-something. He looked down at himself.
"Hey, I had a cut leg before," he said in surprise, getting to his feet.
"Well, lucky you," Caitlyn said, handing him a shotgun and a pair of pants. "I guess I healed everything when I brought you back." She looked around to address everyone who was conscious. "Now I don't want to hear your life stories, people, or how you got into this mess. I'd like to be sympathetic but I don't have time. I can't stand here explaining the whole situation, but I'll say this. You were prisoners, and technically we still are prisoners until we can get out of here. See those people in the bags? You were all up there. Unless you want to go back you will listen to what I have to say, because I know what's going on and I am your best shot of getting out of here.
"Don't ask what I'm going to do to these others or what I did to you to bring you back, it's too hard to explain. The men who imprisoned you are not human, I repeat they aren't human and will not hesitate at slitting your throat and harvesting the blood. If we run into trouble I am going to kill them. Again, don't ask, but believe that it's necessary. You," she nodded to the guy with the shotgun. "What's your name?"
"Damien."
"Damien, you aim at the head or the heart, you understand?" she asked. She handed a sidearm to the other young man, who was a looked older than Damien but still in great physical shape, a blonde with close-cropped hair, a cleft chin and blue eyes. He and Damien were wearing grey pants, but nothing else. "Same to you. If you see them disintegrate after you shoot them, that's normal, and a good thing. I will explain why later."
"They're vampires, aren't they?" the blonde asked.
"Yes they are." She nodded to him, not taking the time to ask how he knew about vampires. There were humans who'd come in contact with them and survived, but they usually kept quiet.
"I am a professional vampire hunter," she explained, "if you can call it a profession. I only expect you guys to fight if they get past me. Can you check the bullets, see if they're silver?" It was possible that they would be, because these vampires were at war with purebloods and also seemed to be at odds with the vampire hounds.
"Mine aren't." The blonde said.
"You can still use the gun." Caitlyn said. "Silver or not, bullets hurt like hell, so you should be able to deter a vamp, even if you can't kill him."
She took out her knife again and cut open another plastic case. An older woman fell into her arms, and the already conscious women were ready at her side with a coat. Caitlyn handed the knife to the boy. "Start cutting down the others, but don't cut the tubes off their arms until I'm ready to revive them, or they'll die." The boy did as he was told, and Caitlyn closed her eyes to revive the woman.
Half a minute later the woman was being sat up and covered by the two younger women, and Caitlyn stood to go to the next person.
She counted the people left to revive. Eighteen. "Dammit," Caitlyn said. She looked around. "Something's not right," she said.
"None of this is right!" exclaimed one of the women.
"No," Caitlyn said, hurrying to revive the next person. "Someone should have come to try and stop us by now."
"Well, just keep going," Damien said nervously, his shotgun aimed at the closed door.
"Is that where you came in?" the blonde man asked, nodding towards the missing hatch in the top half of the back wall. Below it was a vent cover lying on the floor where Caitlyn had let it fall.
"Yep," Caitlyn answered simply, her eyes closed and her concentration on the young girl in her arms. The little girl, perhaps twelve years old, coughed and spluttered into wakefulness. Running low on clothes, Caitlyn wrapped her in an improvised toga of opaque plastic.
"Damien, keep watch on the door," she ordered, then looked over at the blonde man and the three women. "What's your name?" she pointed at the man.
"Jack."
"Jack, you're the tallest here," Caitlyn said. "Lift the little girl and the kid up into the hatch first, then start sending up these three and anyone else I revive." She skipped over to the boy and took the knife. "Go." She ordered. "Do not go far without me." She cautioned everyone. "We may have to rush out of here, so I might not be able to save everyone. Take the first passage on the right then keep going forward."
Another man and another woman were lying beneath her palms when she wrinkled her forehead in thought. "Damien…" she said, trying to figure out what it was while still healing the people.
"What?" he answered. The others were only just inside the hatch.
Caitlyn opened her eyes as the dark haired, moustached guy sighed deeply and opened his eyes, as did the redheaded woman. Caitlyn yanked them to their feet and shoved the last two raincoats at them. "Go!" she yelled. "Everyone, go now!"
She pushed the two new people to the hatch, and Jack pulled them in from inside. "What is it?" he asked as he worked.
"They know I'm here, but there is no one else on this floor, at all, even though there were before," Caitlyn explained, grabbing one last person and carrying her, wrapped in the plastic, over to the vent. "I think we're being sealed in."
"Then we have to leave the rest," Jack said, reaching out for the new girl.
"I know." Caitlyn said angrily, but he realised she wasn't angry at any of them, "I'll come back later if I can, but if we wait any longer, maybe none of us will get out. Get in Damien." She ordered, grabbing the shotgun and pushing him in before he could protest. When he turned around she tossed the gun into the vent beside him and sealed them in.
"Hey wait!" he said.
"Don't leave us!" cried one of the women.
"Stay together," Caitlyn instructed, "and once you get outside leave the premises! As fast as you can. Don't bother going to the police, these people have a lot of connections. I'll track you down again tonight if I can. If not, try to wait until sunrise to make your move. Jack, you're in charge."
"Miss!" she heard from deeper within the ventilation system. "Voices! I can hear them on your ear-thingy."
"Talk to them, Henry." Caitlyn ordered. "Tell them where you are, how many of you there are and as much of the situation as you can. My name is Caitlyn, tell them I'm still in the building where the van went – Bacto Industries."
"Caitlyn, come with us," Jack said, "or let me stay and help you out, I've got military experience."
"I hate responsibility, Jack," Caitlyn answered, walking toward the door, "and right now, these people are yours. Don't disappoint me. I'm gonna go make you guys a distraction."
She left the room and closed the door behind her. The hallway she was in was dark, and bare. There were grey tiles beneath her boots, and dark blue walls stretching forward. There was no movement, nor did Caitlyn sense anyone other than those above or below her floor. She was on the second level above the ground. The windows were all covered with sheets of metal on the inside, Rollerguards or something, which meant no sun exposure during the day, but outwardly the dark windows wouldn't look suspicious. During the night they should have been open, but Caitlyn knew they were trying to keep her in.
Ahead of her, the hall ended in an elevator and a door to the stairway. The elevator would not respond and all doors on her floor were locked, including the one to the stairs.
Caitlyn smirked and shook her head. "Who do they think they're dealing with?" she muttered to herself.
The door locks operated on a key card system. Caitlyn went to one knee before the door so that the electronic lock was at eye level. It was a simple matter to fry the circuitry in the small device.
Caitlyn started her distraction by loudly kicking in the door and she quickly went down the stairs.
Another armed guard was coming up the stairs. Caitlyn grabbed the inner rail and swung herself forward to land a vicious kick in the face. He flew back against the wall. Caitlyn grabbed his gun as she ran over the top of him, leaving him alive, conscious and pissed off, to raise the alarm.
Again, the gun was loaded with silver bullets. Though she didn't normally carry any guns – she preferred close-combat – she knew how to use them. Caitlyn smiled, tucking it into the back of her pants as she kicked open the first-floor door. The guard was following her down the stairs and she stepped aside as he lunged at her so that he fell through the open doorway.
The room before her looked like a normal reception area. It was fairly empty, save for a human receptionist at the front desk, whose back was turned. Caitlyn could see the entrance further out the front.
"Hey you," Caitlyn called out, as she shot the fallen guard in the head. The woman turned around and pulled a gun from beneath her desk. Before she could fire, Caitlyn shot her arm, making her drop the gun.
"Now," Caitlyn said to her, walking forward. "I don't miss, sweetie, so don't be stupid. All I want to know is where your loudest alarm is."
The girl was clutching her arm and moaning. "The smoke alarm, there's one up above the elevator." She sobbed.
"Thanks," Caitlyn said brightly. "One more favour. I'm a little low, so I'm gonna borrow some of your energy." She grabbed and lifted the receptionist up into the air by her throat, and closed her own eyes, breathing in deeply and concentrating. The receptionist stopped struggling after a moment and slumped, letting go of her arm. Caitlyn let her fall to the ground and smiled. "That's much better. You'll live … traitor." Caitlyn severely disliked familiars.
She looked up above the elevator and burned a hole in the wall just below the sensor. A very loud, constant bleeping noise rewarded her efforts. She picked up the receptionist's gun and walked toward the front doors.
There were lots of crates stacked in the warehouse, and a few vampires were busy checking the contents, while others watched the creature that had been brought back in the van.
Deacon Frost stood over the dog, whose paws had been secured to a table within the warehouse. A bald vampire in a white coat stood over the table with a collection of surgical instruments on a tray at his side.
Deacon was asking questions of the scientist. "So what type of blood do these guys prefer?"
"We're not sure, sir. The vampires that have been attacked never survive, and neither do the humans. We're not sure if these creatures can cause the vampire infection or any mutated variation of it, because any victims suffer far too much damage to be able to turn anyway."
Deacon nodded, and, on impulse, made a small cut on his finger and held it over the prone creature's mouth. The jagged teeth snapped together as the thing became alert, and agitated. It whined and growled. The noise it made was moderate at first, then as it was denied any more of Frost's blood, it emitted a loud, high-pitched whine.
"Well, I guess he liked that," Deacon said, flexing his finger. He suddenly inhaled sharply, and blinked in surprise.
"What is it?" Nick asked.
"The girl, she just got a huge burst of energy," Deacon said with a smile, enjoying the feeling. He looked down at his finger, which was now completely healed, more quickly than usual. "Mmm," he said, absently licking his lips. "I want some more of her blood," he muttered to himself. He looked back up at the scientist. "Find out what you can," he ordered. He took a step backward, toward the exit.
"You're going to deal with the girl now?" Nick asked.
Frost just smiled, not answering as he glanced back at the creature.
The creature jerked against the chains that held it down, desperately trying to free itself, still growling in frustration, and every few seconds it let out another high-pitched yowl. The vampires, who had better hearing than humans, winced.
"Shut it up, would you?" Nick said.
"I agree with Nick, now would you tie its mouth shut or something, please?" Frost said, fumbling in his coat pocket for the now-ringing phone. "What now?" he answered.
He listened for a minute, his face screwing up with displeasure as heard what was apparently bad news. "This way?" he asked. He rolled his eyes in exasperation. "No, I'm betting our little captive here gave him the address." He said. "No, you idiot, the girl you were supposed to follow, not the monster we found. I can't talk right now, because apparently, as you've just informed me, we have a Daywalker heading in our direction." He snapped the phone shut with a huff.
"All right, people," he addressed everyone in the warehouse. "Blade is on his way here with his band of Daywalker-wannabes. The one who kills or captures him takes Nick's place as my second-in-command. " Nick looked affronted at this order. "What? You wanna keep your job, prove yourself useful and stop Blade yourself." Nick huffed and left the building.
"Hey, Frost!" Caitlyn called out, making her appearance at an open window near the ceiling, far out of reach. The ground was about two stories below, they had to shoot her to get to her. "I'm afraid that Blade isn't going to be the worst of your problems," she said seriously.
Frost quickly held a hand up to stop those vampires reaching for their guns. "Don't shoot her!" He turned back to Caitlyn. "Don't you think you're over-estimating yourself, kitten? You weren't doing so well last night, if you recall, and now you're outnumbered."
"You were lucky, Frost," she said with a mocking smile, "but I wasn't referring to myself when I said you've got problems other than Blade."
"Please, call me D." Deacon said with a grin, as he pretended to make light conversation with the huntress. "And do tell, what exactly is my new problem?"
"That thing on the table there?" she said, indicating the creature with a nod of her head in its direction. "There are more of them. And unless I miss my guess, that howling it was doing is drawing more of them to us."
Frost's expression grew serious. "How many of them?" he asked.
Caitlyn shrugged, her expression deceptively unconcerned. "You know, I'm really not sure, but I'm willing to bet that it's more than you can handle, even with my blood."
Frost growled as he turned back to the creature and shot it in the head. It gave a short, surprised grunt in its last second of existence. The vampire scientist looked surprised and annoyed at the loss of his test subject.
"Lock this place down!" Frost ordered.
"Shit!" Caitlyn exclaimed, glancing behind her. She threw herself into the warehouse, landing easily on her feet in a crouched position. She turned around to look back up at the window. A vampire tried to grab her from behind so she elbowed him in the midsection, and then she kicked him in the face for good measure. Her attention was still raised up to where she'd been.
A beast wedged itself into the opening she'd just occupied, trying to scramble in but not managing to get its massive bulk through the gap. A terrible scratching sound could be heard as its back paws scrabbled on the tin, and the wood framing the window began to splinter as it pushed through. Frost shot it in the head until it was destroyed.
The vampires scrambling to obey orders were too late, as they glimpsed a horde of the things headed toward the warehouse. Nonetheless, they tried to close the massive tin sliding doors. A few of them ran as the first creature leapt through the gap they failed to close in time. One landed on a workman's back, knocking him over, tearing into his shoulders and swishing its tail.
The sound of screaming and growling filled the air as perhaps a dozen of the creatures shoved their way into the warehouse. A scrabbling, scratching sound indicated that there were others on the roof as well. The creatures were outnumbered more than two to one, but with their massive size, strength and speed, the vampires were the ones who were overmatched.
Caitlyn didn't know what to fight first, she was surrounded by enemies. Concentrating on just one side would mean the remaining side would turn on her, so she settled for destroying anything that went after her, trying to alternate between beasts and vampires.
The guns, more powerful than human strikes, came in handy to penetrate the thick skin of the beasts. Unfortunately the beasts were fast, it was hard to get an accurate shot to either the head or the heart. Caitlyn managed it however, and another one became dust. Vampires were being torn apart all around her, it was very quickly becoming a bloodbath.
Caitlyn swore as she felt more of them on the premises, her only solace being that the humans she'd freed were still in the building's ducts like she'd told them, out of the way. Well, this was certainly a good distraction.
She ducked as a creature leapt for her, hitting the tin wall behind her. She shot it while it was stunned, and killed a vampire that was running for her with a crowbar in hand. 'Amateur', she thought. Another vampire grabbed her wrists, preventing her from shooting him. She also couldn't use magic on him, at least not effectively, but he would not have realised that. She head-butted him and kicked him in the groin. As his head lowered in the act of him stooping to clutch himself, Caitlyn kicked him in the face so hard that he back-flipped, landing on his face and front.
She lost the guns in the next second when one of the dogs knocked her over. She got her feet beneath it and heaved it off her before it could bite her, but she received a nasty slash on her arm from its claws. She pinned it to the ground with vines and drove her knife into its skull with both hands.
A couple of vampires had already been destroyed due to heads or hearts removed. She could see already that the beasts were winning. The vampires might have had a chance if they'd been organised, but they were mostly running around like idiots, or not using the right weapons to fight, like swinging crowbars and throwing crates.
There were dogs guarding the entrance, she couldn't see a way out. She readied herself when she saw one of the hell-dogs crouched, stalking slowly toward her. Just before it could jump at her it was hit by the grey van. The rear doors were open, and the van paused, just in front of her – an invitation. Even without being able to sense him, Caitlyn didn't need to guess to know who was behind the wheel. A rescue was a rescue, so Caitlyn climbed in and closed the doors behind her.
The wheels screeched and the van sped toward the doors, ramming into the guard-dogs and slamming through the partially opened exit. As the van left the premises, Caitlyn shuffled through the rear toward the front. There was a large grey dividing wall separating the front seats from the rest of the van, which had probably helped the drivers ignore it when there was a huge creature thrashing around in the back. All the seats had been removed, again to accommodate the creature.
A small rectangular window appeared in the wall when a panel was slid across from the front. Some kind of spraying canister was shoved through and the panel was shut again.
"Shit," Caitlyn said, her voice muffled when she brought her arm up to cover her mouth. The gas spread through the enclosed space, and despite herself, Caitlyn felt herself growing tired before she could reach the rear doors. The halothane did its job, and Caitlyn slumped to the floor, unconscious.