Fall of Night The Morganville Vampires - By Rachel Caine Page 0,97

up. It was like pulling a sack of wet noodles – wet noodles that weakly resisted the help. ‘Claire, get out of here!’ There were too many coming, and Shane knew it. He’d already made one command decision … Jesse knelt helpless and out of it farther down the tunnel, and he knew they couldn’t reach her and get out in time. She realised with horror that he’d already written her off. He was saving what he could.

But he was right. She had to save one of them, and it had to be Myrnin.

Claire helped him up, and although he was clumsy, he kept himself moving as they ran/stumbled for the end of the run-off tunnel where Oliver had already gone. She looked behind her. Shane had dragged Michael’s weight into a fireman’s carry, and was moving as fast as he could, face contorted with effort. Michael was as limp as a corpse.

Claire saw men with guns forming up behind him, and knew with heart-stopping certainty that she was about to see Shane die. If they wanted Michael, which she thought they did, then it wouldn’t mean much to them to shoot them both. Shane wouldn’t make it. Michael would.

She screamed in horror, because she could see it, as inevitable as a train crash – the roar of the guns, the blood, Shane going down in a lifeless heap.

But it didn’t happen.

‘Hold fire!’ Dr Davis said sharply. ‘Let them go. We’ve got what we need.’

They needed only one vampire, then. It didn’t matter which one.

And as Shane reached her and passed her, Claire realised with a sick and heavy heart that they were going to have to totally abandon Jesse.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Two blocks away, and a lot of turns and back alleys later, their little group re-formed again. It was a deserted open-area warehouse that hadn’t been used in years, from the dusty smell of it. Oliver peeled back the broken fence, punched open the padlocked door, and hustled them all inside.

As soon as Shane eased Michael down to a sitting position, he crouched down to look at his best friend. Michael was silently weeping, face concealed behind his shaking hands. He was a mess, and Claire swallowed hard when she saw how badly VLAD had affected him. Whatever adjustments Dr Anderson had made to it when she’d reassembled it, she’d ramped it up to eleven.

Shane put his hand on Michael’s shoulder, squeezed gently, and then bolted to his feet with his fists clenched as he advanced on Oliver. ‘What the actual hell, man? You left Jesse behind! You left us behind!’ He didn’t stop. He got right up in Oliver’s face and shoved him. It was like shoving a stone wall, and it was Shane that got pushed back a step. That didn’t make him calm down. If anything, Shane’s face grew a deeper shade of red. ‘You son of a bitch, you ran!’

‘Yes,’ Oliver said coldly. ‘I did. That is a tactic called retreat, perhaps you’ve not heard of it. When the odds are against you and victory is impossible, strategic retreat in order to regroup is the favoured option. And you, stupid boy, are what we used to call cannon fodder. Of course I left you.’

‘Yeah, you know what, Sun Tzu, running’s also called cowardice. You think you’re so much better than humans, but you know what? We don’t abandon our friends, we go back. Asshole.’

Oliver ignored him, which was an impressive accomplishment, since Shane was angry, in his face, and well within punching distance. He focused instead on Claire. ‘The device,’ he said. ‘That was yours. The one that disappeared from Anderson’s lab.’ He shoved Shane out of his way as if he were a buzzing, annoying fly, and strode toward Claire. ‘Did you give it to him? Did you know what he would do with it? Do you know what you’ve done?’ Shane tried to get in his way, again, but Oliver wasn’t having any. He slammed Shane back with one hand, grabbed Claire, and towed her to where Michael was huddled against the wall, with Eve holding him in her arms. ‘Look at him. Look! Do you know what you’ve done to him? How long it could last? Do you have any idea what kind of destruction you’ve unleashed against us? It’s the death of us, do you understand? The death of us!’

It wasn’t Shane this time, but Myrnin who stepped in. He was obviously feeling better; he seemed steady enough as he took hold