A/N: NEW CHAPTER! Sorry for the delay, I've been busy with a bunch of things - work, a podcast, a new script - and this script was DRAINING and MASSIVE; I actually took out a section and added it to the next chapter. I'm not sure if it's not just screaming insanity, but I did the best that I could, and I really hope you all enjoy it. PEACE!
Thank you to Esha Napoleon, therealchamps, BigRedMachineUK, Shandy777, and Girl on Fire for reviewing the last chapter! You know that I love you! HUGS AND PUPPIES!
Chapter 2: Daybreak
"Feels like we're livin' in a battleground..." - The Rolling Stones, "Rain Fall Down"
Sunlight streamed through the dusty glass of the windshield, casting its warm golden glow onto Beth's sleeping face. Groaning, the female Hunter stirred, lifting up one hand to shade against the relentless glare as she cautiously opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a seemingly endless sea of leafy green - the tall stalks of corn surrounding the van were almost as tall as the vehicle itself, creating a ragged horizon line between the earth and the sky.
Biting back a yawn, Beth sat up and stretched, rolling her shoulders a few times, cracking her neck from side to side to work out any kinks - after the years of physical abuse her body had suffered over the years, sleeping upright in the front seat of a van certainly wasn't doing it any favors.
Rubbing her eyes, she glanced over at the driver's side, an apology for dozing off ready on her lips - but the adjacent seat was vacant, its door hanging ajar. The female Hunter stared at the empty seat for several lengthy seconds, her pale blue eyes narrowing a touch, before twisting around to peer back into the windowless rear portion of the vehicle.
The van's back doors were open as well; beyond the vehicle lay more rows of corn, the narrow curving slice of road with its deep tire ruts - the one that had led them to this tiny clearing - the only break in its ocean of viridescence. The early morning Iowan sunshine was even more prevalent back here, its persistent brilliance making Jeff's lean frame appear more silhouette than substance.
The daredevil Hunter sat against one of the interior walls, legs up to his chest, elbows on knees, head bowed and bobbing to the beat of some unheard song. His Bluetooth communication device was plugged into one ear, and Beth could see the thin white cord of an ear bud dangling from the other. Right on cue - as though he could feel her gazing at him - Jeff glanced up, removing the ear bud and tucking it back into his pocket with the surreptitious ease of a magician, finger-combing his long red-and-purple-dyed hair back from his face. "Mornin', sunshine. Sleep well?"
The female Hunter rolled her eyes, pressing her fist against her mouth to suppress another yawn. "Please tell me you have coffee back there."
Jeff's mouth twisted upward in a wry half-smile. "Well, I was going to pick some up, maybe even stop at that little cafe downtown and grab a few of those great cinnamon rolls - but Bossman told me to stay put instead, so, eh, what could I do?" He punctuated this statement by lifting both shoulders in a comical shrug.
Beth didn't return his grin. "What's the status?"
Jeff's smile waned a bit. "You know, you're getting to be as bad as our fearless leader." Sitting up, he touched his Bluetooth with one finger, his demeanor and tone sobering as he subtly shifted back into Hunter mode. "I just checked in with Maria - all five of our targets came back about an hour or two before dawn. They went into the barn, and since then, no one's set foot in or outside the perimeter we established."
The daredevil Hunter leaned his head back against the van wall, his emerald irises intense and bright with anticipation. "Whatever they've got going on in there, their only way in or out is through that barn - once we seal that off, they'll have nowhere to run." He hesitated for a moment, then added, a trifle tentatively: "Although...I really wish we had the big man with us right now-"
"Don't we all?" Beth interjected brusquely, her tone distant, as though she was speaking to herself as well as Jeff. She paused, her gaze drifting back over toward the empty driver's side seat. "By the way...where is John, anyway?"
The daredevil Hunter's sardonic grin reappeared. "Where do you think?" He nodded out toward the verdant expanse encompassing them.
"Out there."
The lead Hunter stood stock-still amongst the corn plants, as motionless as one of the ragtag scarecrows scattered throughout the fields, his thumbs hooked into the loops of his gun belt. His back was to Beth as she made her approach, drawing to a halt at his left elbow.
The female Hunter balanced carefully on the narrow strip of earth between the rows. The corn leaves brushed roughly against her bare arms, making her skin itch, and she could hear the annoying whine of mosquitos as they whizzed past her ears.
Cena didn't turn around; didn't so much as shift his gaze in her direction. "You're awake." It was a flat declarative statement, uttered without the slightest trace of affection or emotion.
"Good morning to you, too," Beth replied sourly, slapping her arm to dislodge a mosquito that had decided to alight there. It couldn't have been more than an hour past sunrise, but already it felt like an oven outside; beads of sweat were trickling down the back of her protective leather vest, tickling as they traveled down her skin, and each breath she drew into her lungs seemed to be full of corn dust.
Cena, on the other hand, appeared totally unaffected by the heat; he wasn't even sweating, despite his usual all-black attire. His expression was unreadable, fixed in that countenance of his that was entirely focused and yet entirely elsewhere.
That look had always unnerved the female Hunter, and now was no exception; in spite of the humidity, she felt a chill ripple through her body. There was something unsettling about the detachment in Cena's blue irises - if anything, it was a reminder that deep down, her leader and lover was just as broken as the rest of them; that there was a part of him, some vital human part, that had been missing long before they had ever met, and thus, a side of him that would forever be beyond her reach.
Beth snapped her mouth shut, and instead followed the lead Hunter's line of sight, staring out across the swath of corn plants where, like a whale breaching the surface of the water, the peaked roof of a barn broke above the ragged green leaves.
For several long minutes, neither one of them spoke; merely stood side by side, gazing at the target of their lengthy search and surveillance. Finally, Beth cleared her throat, swinging her pale blue irises back toward Cena. "You know..." she ventured tentatively. "...maybe we should wait until night." She waved her hand in the direction of the barn as she spoke. "We've got this place wired within an inch of its life, Maria will know if one of them so much as sneezes - and with Dave here, we'll really have an advantage."
There was no answer from the lead Hunter, which was never a good sign, but Beth pressed on, turning around to fully face her lover. "You know that we need him for this." It was an assertion rather than a suggestion. "He's talked with these vamps; he knows how they think-"
"We don't have time to wait," Cena interrupted tersely. "Once they learn that Darren and Titus are gone - if they don't know already - they'll scatter like roaches." He tilted his head up, squinting at the sun beating down on them both. "As long as the sun's overhead, they've got nowhere to run. We'll flush them out-"
"But we don't even know what's down there!" the female Hunter protested. She reached out, grabbing onto his arm. "Isn't that one of the first things you taught me - never chase a vamp into his lair unless you know all the twists and turns he can possibly take?" Once again, there was no answer. Beth glanced back toward the barn, shaking her head stubbornly. "I'm telling you, we need the big man-"
"And I'm telling you this isn't a discussion, Phoenix." The lead Hunter's tone was clipped and frosty, indicating that any further argument would be viewed as a sign of insubordination. Pulling himself free from her grip, he unhooked his thumbs from his belt, crossing his muscular arms over his chest. "I've made my decision."
Of course you have... the blond woman thought bitterly. ...and it never is - at least as far as Dave's concerned...
Before she could actually voice any of this, a crashing sound rippled through the rows of corn, accompanied by muffled cursing. A second later, Jeff tumbled into view, stomping through the corn stalks with all the grace of a bull elephant in a china shop, coughing as he struggled to catch his breath. "I swear to God - I don't know how these farmer guys do it." he eventually managed to say. The daredevil hunter shook his head, sucking in a labored lungful of air. "This shit gets in your throat - if we make it out of here today, I'm never eating corn again as long as I live-"
Beth, however, wasn't listening to her team member's tirade; her attention was still focused on Cena, the slight tightness of her features the only indicator that she was at all displeased. She reached back, her fingers grazing the curve of her compound bow. "How do you want to do this?"
"Hard and fast," the lead Hunter replied curtly. He pulled out one of his twin Desert Eagle .44s, sunlight glinting off the etched letters along the barrel that read REGRET NOTHING. "Quiet if possible, nasty if necessary." He ejected the clip, checking the full load of silver-coated ammunition before slamming it back home emphatically. "Either way...none of them leave that barn alive."
Cena re-holstered his weapon, his piercing blue eyes once more resuming their look of intense remoteness. "Let's go." Pushing aside the corn stalks, he moved forward, the other two following suit as they slowly made their way toward the barn.
The barn was massive, with abandoned horse stalls lining both sides. The rotting wooden floor was covered with discarded hay, and shafts of yellow sunlight poured down through several jagged holes in the dilapidated roof. Except for a few cooing pigeons fluttering up amid the creaking rafters, it was completely deserted.
Cena ground to a halt, holding up one hand to indicate that his team members should do the same. Without speaking, he pointed toward the center of the barn, where the stray hay had been cleared away from a large closed trapdoor set into the floor. Next to it lay a steel chain and padlock, the sunshine winking off their metal contours.
Together, the trio circled cautiously around the wooden barrier. Unholstering one of his .44s, Cena crouched down, grabbing hold of the iron ring handle. With one sudden fluid motion, he hoisted the door up and open, allowed it to fall back against the hay-covered floor while he stepped forward, lifting his weapon up into a ready stance.
Nothing rushed out to meet them. The trio of Hunters leaned over, peering warily down into the hole. The sunlight streaming down through the open trapdoor illuminated a patch of dirt floor about six or seven feet below them, surrounded on all sides by total darkness.
Jeff's features twisted with resigned consternation. "Shit. We're going to have to go down there...aren't we?" The daredevil Hunter sighed, straightening up and casting a look around the barn. "Let me see if I can find a ladder-"
The sentence was not even out of his mouth before Cena jumped down into the hole, his combat boots thudding softly against the packed earth. Jeff shot his teammate a look; one which seemed to say Why do I even bother?... before dropping down after him. Beth lingered up above an extra minute, taking the time to remove her compound bow and quiver - in the darkness, with no sense of what lay below them, they would only hinder her - and lay them to the side before lowering herself into the hole as well.
Down here, the blackness was even more overwhelming, pressing up against them like a tangible presence, and the blond woman found herself involuntarily drawing back into the square of light as though it was a protective circle. Although she had spent over a decade battling in the shadows, there was something primally unsettling about total darkness - the way it could simultaneously swallow you up and make you feel completely exposed...the way it could penetrate you to the core and infuse you with its absence of everything, reducing you to your basest state.
Gradually, as her eyes adjusted somewhat, the female Hunter was able to ascertain that they had descended into what looked like an underground basement. The walls and floors were comprised of earth, bolstered up by wooden beams that were probably older than all of their ages combined. The sprawling space where they stood was about half as large as the barn interior above it, and Beth could just make out several darker patches of shade where tunnels snaked off into the unknown.
A hand touched her arm, and Beth turned to see Cena staring at her. The lead Hunter pointed to his eyes, then to her, then to the tunnel entrance nearest them. The blond woman comprehended immediately what he meant, and fumbled at the back of her gun belt for her night vision goggles.
Cena repeated the same gestures to Jeff, then unsnapped his own pair, donning them and pulling them down over his eyes. Drawing their weapons almost precisely in unison, the trio split up, stepping out the protective square of light into the welcoming darkness.
Beth made her way slowly down the narrow tunnel, her back pressed against the rough dirt wall, her gun down at her side with her finger resting lightly on the trigger guard. Her senses were on high alert, magnifying even the smallest sounds to the nth degree, making even her quiet intake of breath seem as loud as a windstorm.
The female Hunter's toe hit a small dip in the dirt beneath her feet, and she momentarily lost her balance, grabbing onto the wall for support and uttering a few profane epithets under her breath. She had always hated night vision goggles; to her, there was something incredibly disturbing about the way it colored the world in shades of sickly green, turning everyone into demonic versions of themselves - but more than that, it was an unpleasant reminder of the limitations she possessed as a human hunting vampires; limitations she could counter, but never fully overcome.
In a way, it was almost funny - she could drill an arrow into a bloodsucker's eye socket from fifty yards away, but turn off the lights and she turned into a bumbling idiot, stumbling through the murk like a bull trying to walk across eggshells without breaking them. The goggles afforded her sight, but that was all - they didn't give her an advantage; they merely leveled the playing field for a bit - and for not the first time, she found herself envying Dave's ability to see in the dark; to move through the shadows like he was a part of them...
At the thought of the vampire, Beth felt a frown crease her face. It was starting to become even more apparent; Cena's standoffishness, his inability to fully accept Dave as a member of the team - the way he kept the big man at arm's length, excluding him from the hunt even when Dave's presence would have given them the upper hand. The vampire never complained - Beth had to give him that - but even she could tell that this detachment, this unwarranted lack of trust, was starting to get to him.
Part of it was unavoidable - the fact that the big man and the Hunter team had once been on opposing sides; the fact that even though she had been dead for the last three years, Dave's sire still cast a very long shadow. But deep down, Beth had always suspected that the roots of the lead Hunter's animosity toward Dave truly lay...in the tragic figure of the late Mickie James.
Even though he would never go so far as to voice it aloud, it was no real secret that Cena resented the vampire's relationship with Mickie - not just for reaching her in the depths of her despair when no one could, but also for being a link in the chain of events that had led to her death. And it didn't matter that Mickie had died happier than she had lived, or that the love between her and Dave had ultimately produced Hope - because that didn't change the fact that she was gone, and to Cena, death was just like his will: irrevocable.
No one talked about it, but Beth was pretty sure that they had all thought it at one time or another, and Cena most of all - that if Dave and Mickie had never met, then maybe Rob James' little sister would still be alive...
Skritch.
The female Hunter ground to an abrupt halt, every muscle in her body tensing, her skin prickling up into goosebumps. The faint noise she had heard had been subtle - but just out of sync enough with her own movements for her to grasp that it hadn't been her. The blond woman remained motionless, holding her breath, trying to will every function of her body into silence as she strained to hear the sound once more-
Skritch.
Beth's finger slipped through the guard, tightening over the trigger, and she whipped around, holding the gun out in front of her with both hands. The tight passageway behind her was empty, the earthen walls and wooden beams stark and ominous in the unseen light of the night-vision goggles.
The female Hunter stared at the vacant tunnel for a few seconds more before cautiously lowering the gun. Shaking her head, she turned back around - and that was when the vampire materialized out the darkness like a demon out of Hell, fangs bared and fingers curved into claws, lunging toward her with a snarl.
Beth didn't scream - there wasn't time. She didn't even think; merely reacted purely out of reflex. She saw the bloodsucker's fist hurtling toward her face, and arched backward, which kept her head from being taken clean off her shoulders from his first frenzied swing - but it wasn't enough to prevent his knuckles from crashing into the point of her chin, sending a lightning bolt of white-hot force rocketing up into her brain and knocking her back. She hit the wall shoulder-first and slid down, the gun flying out of her hand, her cheek slamming against the dirt floor. Through the wooziness crawling over her brain, the blond woman heard something crack, and the washed-out greenish world in the lens of her goggles abruptly flickered - then went totally black.
Seconds ticked by, but they felt like years as the female Hunter lay there, momentarily stunned. Then, as it always did, instinct took over, and she ripped the now-useless goggles off her face, tossing them aside as she struggled to assess her situation. She was in a vampire's lair, separated from her teammates, blind and weaponless. Her best option would be go back the way she had come, but in her disoriented state, she could no longer remember which direction that was - any move she took could just end up taking her deeper down the rabbit hole.
Mustering all of her willpower, Beth pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, struggling to control her labored breathing long enough to get a sense of what lay beyond it. The darkness was like a shroud, robbing her not only of her sight - her most valued asset - but tamping down her other senses as well; for all she knew, the vamp could have run off to warn his partners of her presence...or he could be mere inches away, watching and waiting for her to climb back to her feet-
The bloodsucker's boot slammed into her abdomen, driving all the air from her body and lifting her a few inches off the ground. The female Hunter uttered a strangled gurgle, choking on the sour bile climbing up her throat. A hand grabbed her throat, clamping down with all the force and pressure of a steel vise, cutting off her already limited flow of air and yanking her bodily to a standing position. Beth felt her back hit the earthen wall hard, sending another bright streak of pain racing across her bruised shoulder, and she flailed wildly; scratching, kicking, trying to suck enough air into her lungs to force out a cry for help.
All of her struggles ceased, however, as the cold barrel of the gun dug into her cheek, accompanied by the soft ominous click of the hammer being drawn back. A dry rasping chuckle rippled up out of the darkness. "Well, well, well - what have we here?"
Even though she couldn't see his face, Beth still had no problem envisioning the smile that she heard in the bloodsucker's voice. Slowly, with fingers that she could barely feel through the intense throbbing in her skull, she groped at her gun belt.
The vampire went on, jamming the gun even harder against her cheek - she could feel it digging into her gums."Hm...you don't look all that threatening - don't tell me you're the thing we're all supposed to be scared of."
Fighting the urge to spit in his face - only because she probably would have missed - the blond woman instead forced herself to remain calm, hoping that the bloodsucker was so focused on watching her squirm that he failed to notice the tentative exploration she was making of her remaining equipment. Her fingertips finally located the object of their search - the rounded edge of a small rectangular box - and it took everything the female Hunter had to repress the relief that flooded through her body.
Just because she was weaponless...didn't mean that she was unarmed.
The bloodsucker let out another menacing chuckle, his breath a hot fetid mixture of blood and beer that made Beth's stomach turn. "Too bad; we could have had a little fun-"
At this point, the blond woman's thoughts were starting to fade in and out, but she dug in, and with one last burst of willpower, she snatched the box off her belt, simultaneously flicking a switch and jamming it into her attacker's face.
One of the first lessons that all bloodsuckers learned was to stay out of the sunshine - but what most of them failed to comprehend was that it wasn't the sun they needed to be afraid of; it was the ultraviolet rays contained within the light...and that, when utilized properly, a small UV lamp could be just as devastatingly powerful as a sunrise.
After so much darkness, the purplish-white illumination that the box emitted dazzled her senses - but that was nothing compared to what happened to the vampire. His words devolved into an agonized yowl, and he released both her and the gun, clutching his face with both hands, tendrils of smoke leaking out between his fingers as he screamed in pain.
Beth sank to the floor, coughing and massaging her bruised throat while the vampire staggered away from her, still holding his face and wailing. In the faint light, Beth saw her revolver lying on the ground, and grabbed it, bringing it up and squeezing the trigger - but she was still lightheaded from lack of oxygen, and the shot went wild, thudding into the earthen wall as the bloodsucker disappeared around the bend of the tunnel.
Climbing back to her feet, reeling a little, the female Hunter stumbled after her attacker, gun out in front of her and ready to fire. She had forgotten about Cena, about Jeff, about getting out of this underground tomb alive - the only thing that mattered to her now was chasing down that fanged shithead and seeing the look of stunned surprise on his face right before his body dissolved into ash-
Beth stumbled, her injured shoulder slamming into the wall, her footing almost deserting her completely. In this perfect darkness, with only the faint luminescence of a UV lamp to guide her path, she felt like she was trapped in a funhouse, where the walls moved and the floor rippled beneath her feet. Gritting her teeth, she righted herself, and took another turn, another - and then all of a sudden, the walls of the passageway opened up, and the figure of the vampire swam into view.
The bloodsucker was hunched over, whimpering and wiping his nose with the back of his hand. At the female Hunter's approach, his head shot up and he let a venomous hiss."You bitch!" he spat. In the subtle light, Beth saw that the entire left side of his face was blistered and burned, the wounds oozing blood and pus. His countenance was full of hatred - but also disbelief, as though he hadn't realized until now that he could be hurt; that he could be made to bleed.
Tears of agony leaked from his eyes, and Beth saw for the first time how young he was - he couldn't have been older than nineteen or twenty when he was turned. "You fucking bitch - look what you did to my face-"
The female Hunter's response was to advance toward him, thrusting the UV light out in front of her - she didn't even care about the gun anymore; all she wanted at this moment was to fry this fucker alive - and that was when four more pair of red eyes flicked open in the blackness behind her prey.
For a fraction of a second, Beth went rigid with shock, then backed away, the words tumbling out of her throat in a hoarse whisper: "Shit, shit-" The eyes drew together, like a gathering storm cloud. All at once, they flew toward her, and the blond woman turned and ran, her voice now a full-fledged scream:
"Shit!"
She had only the most rudimentary sense of where she was going - the UV light clutched in her hand provided only a bouncing flash. She didn't look back - to spare even one instant of hesitation with five vampires on her tail would have meant certain death. Instead, Beth just ran, the breath tearing out of her in furious pants, her heart beating almost to the point of exploding.
She rounded a corner, noting almost unconsciously that the walls of the tunnel were beginning to lighten - she must be drawing near the entrance up to the barn. Suddenly, more shadows loomed up in front of her, and for a moment, Beth was certain she was done for - until she heard Cena's deep roar:
"Phoenix! Get down!"
The female Hunter didn't argue; merely obeyed, dropping to the floor and skidding across the dirt like a baseball player sliding toward home base. She hadn't even come to a complete stop before shots rang out, the noise deafening in the narrow contained space.
Beth instinctively covered her head with her arms. She was aware of everything; every sensation, every sound - the cold dampness of dirt against her cheek, the metallic pings of bullet casings as they rained down around her, the agonized screams of the vampires that turned into rasping gurgles as their bodies disintegrated into dust - but at the same time, felt strangely detached from it, as though her mind had been encased in a protective bubble and was watching her body from a distance.
And then it was over, the last shell hitting the ground, the last shot echoing into silence - and through the overwhelming ringing in her ears, Beth could hear the lead Hunter yelling once again, this time to Cease fire...
The female Hunter sat up, coughing - the air was thick and choked with cordite, its sharp acrid taste filling her mouth. A hand appeared in the line of her vision, and she looked up to see Jeff - even in almost total darkness, she could still distinguish between her two teammates - standing over her. His mouth moved; the voice that emerged sounded as though it was coming from the end of a long hallway. "You good, Phoenix?" Beth nodded wordlessly, and grabbing hold of the daredevil Hunter's hand, she used it to pull herself back to her feet.
As she did, Cena brushed past her, striding into the void that, moments before, had been occupied by five living bloodsuckers - a space which now contained only heaps of dirty gray ash...and one trembling survivor.
Despite the hail of bullets that had been flying seconds ago, the dark-haired young man crouched on the floor before them had emerged...mostly...unscathed; he was clutching his right arm, dark blood streaming through his fingers, his handsome features fixed in a pinched look of pain. He let out a frightened yelp as Cena grabbed a handful of his plaid shirt, hauling him up to his feet and pressing the smoking barrel of the .44 against his forehead with the other. "What's your name?" the lead Hunter barked.
The surviving vampire stared up at him uncomprehendingly, as though Cena had just addressed him in Klingon. "Wuh-what?"
"Your name," the lead Hunter reiterated impatiently. He punctuated the statement by drawing back the Desert Eagle's hammer. "What is it?"
"M-M-Maddox!" the dark-haired vampire blurted out fearfully, revealing a flash of fangs behind his quivering lips. "B-Brad Maddox!"
"Well, then, Brad Maddox," Cena replied flatly. "In case you haven't figured it out - my team and I are confiscating your merchandise." He paused, his blue eyes narrowing. "Where are they?"
Brad shook his head vehemently, a panicked mewling sound escaping his throat. "I-I can't!" he babbled. "I can't tell you! M-my bosses - they'll kill me-"
"How unfortunate," the lead Hunter interrupted, his deep voice holding just the faintest touch of sarcasm. "See, because...I'm gonna kill you if you don't..." He jammed the gun even harder against Maddox's forehead, forcing his head back, and the vampire let out a low moan. "...and trust me...I will take my time."
Maddox's eyes widened, darting frantically back and forth between the massive weapon pressed to his skull, and the face of the unrelenting Hunter wielding it. Cena's azure irises were unblinking...but in their depths burned pure murder. His lips moved, spitting out two final words:
"Your move."
The tunnel Maddox led them down was narrower and even more claustrophobic than any of the others. As they made their way toward its culminating point, Beth's nostrils picked up the unmistakable stench of bodily functions - urine, feces, vomit - along with another, less tangible, but just as potent...the pungent reek of fear.
The bloodsucker halted, and the female Hunter gagged, covering her nose and mouth with her hand - the smell was even stronger here, the various unpleasant aromas combining into a single potent miasma that made her nauseous. Cautiously, she moved forward, holding her UV lamp in front of her like a flashlight. Her eyes were finally growing accustomed to the omnipresent darkness, and in the soft purplish glow of the lamp, she was able to make out at least a dozen padlocked dog crates, all of them containing huddled forms that stared back at her with wet frightened eyes...
Beth gasped. "Oh my God..." She looked back at the others, her pale blue eyes wide with shock and revulsion. "Children. They're all children."
Jeff whirled around, glaring at the dark-haired vampire with righteous fury. "Oh, you sick fuck-"
He lunged at Maddox, but Cena stepped forward, swiftly inserting himself between them. "Hardy!" The lead Hunter's tone was soft, but brimming with indisputable authority. Jeff froze, his fist still raised in midair. "You and Phoenix get the kids out." Cena swung his gaze back toward the bloodsucker, leveling the muzzle of the .44 right between his eyes. "I'll deal with him."
For a moment, the daredevil Hunter looked as though he wanted to contend this directive, but after a moment or two, he lowered his fist, shooting Maddox a meaningful glower before heading over to join Beth, who was already in front of the first cage, lock picks out and at the ready.
The dark-haired vampire gulped, raising his wounded arm gingerly in a show of surrender. "Hey, man..." he whispered. "I did...what you wanted..." There was no answer from the lead Hunter. Maddox swallowed hard once more, his gaze darting past Cena to the cluster of cages filling the cramped space. "What - this? I...I just do what I'm told..."
The bloodsucker lifted both shoulders in an apologetic shrug, as if to say Aw shucks... "I mean...it's nothing personal - I'm just trying to make a living-"
The gun roared, and the underground prison was immediately filled with the screams of terrified children. Maddox dropped to one knee, his skin ashen, his mouth moving silently as he held onto what remained of his right arm - everything below the elbow was gone, leaving behind an oozing stump with dripping strands of ragging tissue and sinew.
Cena lifted the gun up once more, his azure stare steady and unblinking. "You're selling children as bleeders; little lap dogs for rich vamps to feed on whenever they get the munchies...and you want to justify it by saying that you're just following orders?" His countenance was taut with disgust. "I ought to throw you in one of those cages and use you for target practice-"
Maddox's eyes were glassy with agony and shock; looking at everything, focusing on nothing. Somehow, he managed to push himself back up, balancing unsteadily on the balls of his feet before taking a tentative step away from the lead Hunter. "Go ahead." His voice was dull and inflectionless. "It won't be any worse than what she'll do to me if she finds out I talked-"
At this, Cena's eyebrows came together in a tiny frown. "Who?"
The dark-haired vampire didn't seem to hear him; it was as though he had forgotten the lead Hunter's presence. "Even Titus and Darren are scared of her - they call her 'that blond bitch'." He abruptly laughed; the sound of it high-pitched and teetering on the brink of hysteria. "She knows everything. She sees everything. She's everywhere - and she'll come after me."
Maddox let out another shrill chuckle, his face creasing in a lunatic grin. "After me...just like she'll come after you-"
"Who are you talking about?" Cena demanded. He advanced toward the dark-haired bloodsucker, his combat boots thudding against the dirt floor. "Who?"
Maddox slowly lifted his head, his eyes meeting the lead Hunter's - and in a way, this single glance was more terrifying than the display of madness that had preceded it...because the look in his gaze was painfully sane. The vampire opened his mouth; the two words that emerged were soft, but perfectly enunciated:
"Bloody Mary."
Before Cena could ask what that meant, the dark-haired vampire abruptly turned and sprinted full-speed back down the tunnel. The lead Hunter brought the .44 up, but Maddox was already out of sight before he even had the chance to aim. Swearing under his breath, Cena dashed after him, bumping against the dirt walls, struggling to move through the encompassing blackness that hindered him.
Just as he reached the large central room, he heard an agonizing scream, immediately accompanied by a sudden rush of heat and the reek of burning flesh. Turning around the final bend, the lead Hunter stopped dead, the arm holding the Desert Eagle sagging back down to his side.
Brad Maddox stood in the single square of sunshine, his burning figure twisting and writhing as it was consumed, his cries becoming less and less recognizable as he was burned alive. For a few seconds, the body remained standing, still frozen in the motion of reaching up toward the sun, as though seeking some sort of solace in its deadly rays - and then it collapsed, crumbling into a formless pile of ash and cinder.
Footsteps echoed behind him, and an instant later, the other two Hunters burst out of the tunnel, both of them coming to a halt as they beheld the aftermath of Maddox's suicide run.
Jeff looked away, shaking his head. "Yeesh..." he remarked with no small amount of distaste. "Never would have expected it out of that guy - what a way to go-"
Cena wasn't listening, however; he couldn't stop Maddox's final words from reverberating in his skull, uttered with both fear and awe-
She'll come after me...just like she'll come after YOU...
Bloody Mary...
"Ready? Up we go."
Cena handed the last kid up to Jeff, then jumped and grabbed hold of the trapdoor frame, using his upper body strength to pull himself out of the hole. Once he had regained his footing, the lead Hunter flipped the trap door shut with his combat boot, sealing off the basement and the charnel house of horrors concealed within its network of tunnels.
All told, there had been fourteen children in that underground prison; the oldest one couldn't have more than seven or eight. Jeff and Cena had lifted them out of the basement one by one, and they now sat single file inside one of the empty horse stalls, blinking dumbly in the early morning light - which had to seem blinding after their time spent underground - their small faces streaked with with dirt and tear stains.
Cena dusted himself off, his strong features unreadable as he looked over at Jeff. "Have the cops been notified?"
The daredevil Hunter nodded, somewhat vacantly; it was clear that he was still trying to come to grips with what they had seen beneath the barn. "Maria called them - they should be on their way-" Right on cue, the faint sound of police sirens drifted through the still morning air.
The lead Hunter returned the gesture. "That's our cue - Phoenix?" He looked over at Beth, who had retrieved some bottled water from the van and was passing it amongst the kids, moving down the line to check them for injuries. Pouring a little into her hand, she gently wiped the blood and dirt off the features of a little girl. The child - who was staring up at the female Hunter with a mixture of awe and wariness, as though she had just met Wonder Woman - suddenly threw her arms around Beth's neck, clinging to her fiercely. Stunned, the blond woman just sat there frozen for a few seconds before hesitantly returning the embrace.
"Phoenix," Cena's voice was more emphatic this time, and quavering slightly at the edges, as though he was trying to tamp down some strong emotion within him. "We have to go."
With evident reluctance, Beth disentangled the little girl's arms from around her neck. "We need to leave, sweetheart," she whispered, her own voice breaking. "But the police will be here soon, and they'll take you back home to your mommy." Impulsively, she trailed her fingers down the girl's cheek. "You're safe now." Biting her lip, she turned away and rose to her feet, hoping that the child hadn't glimpsed the tears that were stinging her eyes.
The three Hunters exited the barn, heading toward the makeshift pathway they had cut through the fields of corn - by the time the police arrived and discovered their trail, they would be safely back at the base. Beth tilted her face up toward the sun, letting its warmth caress her skin, wondering if this was how the children must have felt when they had emerged from the hole and seen the sky for the first time in who knows how long...
"Mister! Hey, mister, wait!"
The trio stopped, turning back to see a little boy come dashing out of the barn after them. Beth took a step toward him, but Cena held his hand out, indicating that she should stay put. The little boy halted, staring up at the lead Hunter, his features filled with an amalgamation of curiosity and fearlessness. "Where're you going?"
Now Cena stepped forward, staring impassively down at the kid. "We have to go. The police will be here soon - they'll take care of you-" He turned away, but the boy impulsively reached out and grabbed his hand - and in that single moment, Beth saw something in the lead Hunter's face she'd never imagined she'd see; a look of such longing and vulnerability so acute that it made her want to weep.
The little boy continued to peer up at him; Beth noticed for the first time that he was wearing a faded Avengers t-shirt. He bit his lip thoughtfully, his gaze never leaving Cena's. "Are...are you a superhero?"
For several lengthy moments, the lead Hunter didn't move - then, slowly, he knelt down, reaching out to tousle the boy's dingy blond hair. There was so much familiarity and affection in the gesture, as though it was something he had once done countless times before, and Beth felt one of those rare moments of revelation wash over her - that the wall of impenetrable stoicism Cena maintained had just cracked open, allowing her to see just a glimpse of the secrets locked up inside him...
Cena's voice was so low she almost didn't hear him, and the blond woman couldn't tell if he was speaking to the boy...or just himself:
"I...I'm no hero, kid."
With that, he stood, turning away, his features briefly sagging with unimaginable pain and torment - and then that, too, melted from his expression, as though it had never even existed. He pushed past his subordinates, his gait slightly unsteady and more rapid than it had been a second ago, as though he was trying to put distance not just between himself and the barn...but between himself and the child as well.
The little boy stood there silently, watching his three rescuers merge back into the corn fields. After a while, their black-clad forms melded into the green, the rustling leaves resuming their stillness...as though the trio had never been there to begin with.