Free Vampire Apocalypse: Descent Into Chaos (Book 2) by Derek Gunn

horizon, however, were far too great for
anything as minor as that.
    He knew with a certainty that gripped at his stomach
and twisted it violently that he was looking at the portent of his
own death, and the dread increased with each mile they traveled. He
snapped into his handheld radio, demanding that Bertrand reply as
he began to see the outline of the small town in the distance. They
were close enough now so that the hand radios should work but still
static seemed to mock him when he lifted his thumb from the
device.
    He could see the old fort now though smoke billowed
around it like a veil and teasingly revealed part of the structure
only to hide it again as the wind caught it and wrapped it back
into its embrace again. He could see a tanker on fire and hope
flared that it had only been an accident after all and that his
demands over the radio had been ignored due to the town commander’s
own fear of reprisal from his superior. He saw the first body on
the ground when they were still half a mile away and his heart
sank. There could be no doubt now. They had been attacked. There
would be no reprieve for him.
    The truck slid to a halt on the dusty surface of the
road and men spilled out from the truck and ran into the smoke. For
a moment Carter thought they had been swallowed by a living entity,
but then he saw the first of the men return and their shouted
reports began to form a picture of the carnage that lay hidden
behind the veil of smoke. He tuned out for a moment and thought of
how he would report this to his superiors. Would they make him
report directly to the vampires to distance themselves from this
grave error in judgement? Probably. The vampires did not take
failure well and usually made an extreme example of anyone bringing
them bad news. And this news was as bad as it got.
    Not only did it show his incompetence but it also
heralded what could possibly be a major incursion by the Wentworth
cabal. A small spark of hope began to smolder in his chest as he
realized that he might be able to use this catastrophe after all.
If he could show that there had been nothing that he could have
done, even if his headquarters had been here, then he might yet
survive. Surely he could divert some of the blame to their
intelligence division. Those bastards strutted around full of their
own self-importance, demanding regular guards like him drop
everything at their every whim. Surely they should have been able
to predict such a large incursion.
    Carter looked out over the carnage and began to
formulate his report. There was enough destruction to safely
estimate a huge attacking force. He did not care if his report
wasn’t accurate—his life was on the line now and only a full-scale
invasion could save him. He began to walk through the shattered
remains of the fort, trying to piece together the attack. There
were no tire tracks other than his own men’s vehicles so the enemy
had not attacked en masse. That was not good. If they had not used
vehicles then it had probably been a small commando raid and that
did not fit in with his plan.
    The fuel was still mostly intact, only one tanker had
been destroyed and another was missing, but the main storage tanks
were still undamaged. He could not understand why Wentworth would
risk such an attack and not leave his enemy crippled. Why would he
steal one tanker and leave the bulk of the supplies for his enemy
to use against him? It made no sense, but good strategy was not
something he needed to be concerned about. He had to show that
there had been no possible hope that he could have driven off the
attack.
    He looked back towards the men he had brought with
him. He had been so harried when the news of the smoke had come to
him that he had grabbed what men were on watch and rushed towards
Bertrand, leaving word for the others to follow as soon as the main
force was ready. It wasn’t that he was particularly brave, rushing
off the save Bertrand, it was merely that he was so scared