Free Vampire's Day (Book 1): Epicenter by Yuri Hamaganov

gate!”
    The large gate slowly rose, letting in acrid smoke from the street. There was a lot of smoke, and the fires were becoming bigger. Many neighboring buildings were burning and nobody was extinguishing the fires. The guards had distributed all available fire extinguishers so they could ensure that the fire didn’t spread to them, but they couldn’t do anything about the smoke. It was a good thing that they still had electricity, because it the air conditioners were running at full capacity.
    Sounds came from the street - the roar of the flames, screaming, shooting, sirens, helicopters noise. And out of the smoke entered cars, one after the other; models that hadn’t been worked on here before.
    “Close the gate!”
    His new employees started to work on the new cars. There were twelve SUV pickups, quite new, stolen by one of the new vampire’s gangs from another garage. For Clarence they were a primary objective. He loved these cars, and they were the most suitable for his business - soon they would be turned into real fighting machines under his instruction.
    Yesterday, he had already delivered the armor - the truck with steel plates three and five millimeters thick waiting in the parking. Machine guns and other weapons would soon arrive, and then his team will connect it all together, turning civilian cars into armored vehicles. They would have to improvise, but there was no war without improvisation.
    As a senior engineer in a private military corporation, Clarence had visited military conflict before and almost everywhere used gun trucks, self-made combat vehicles. Their enemies and local allies often turned ordinary cars and trucks into ersatz armored vehicles with steel plates as armor and installing in the body everything that could shoot - from machine guns to light anti-aircraft guns, mortars and multiple rocket launchers. He also created a lot of these machines, turning army trucks into fortresses on wheels in the Vietnam War style. And now he made gun trucks for his new army, according to pre-designed needs.
    Instead of glass windows, they had steel plates with observation slits. Armor covered the driver's cab, engine and fuel tank. The total weight of armor and weapons was a few hundred pounds, which would not affect driving performance. Fuel consumption would increase, but would still be much lower than the fuel consumption of an armored personnel carrier or tank. That would be important in the near future - soon every liter of gas would be sold for a required price.
    It was still a work in progress, but the cars rapidly changed shape, and could be sent to fight as soon as possible. Soon the first army units entered into the city to help the police. His improvised armored vehicles would give them an unpleasant surprise; Clarence remembered how difficult it was to hunt enemy gun trucks even in the open desert. In the city streets it would be even more challenging, especially if the drivers used their main trump card - mobility.
    By the time they brought in the guns, the improvised armored cars were almost ready.
    “Where did you get those guns?“
    “From the National Guard, and mortars too.“
    “OK, get shooters and drivers!”

33. Tiger
     
    Tiger was in a bad mood. Today he was meant to be heading on his first leave, so yesterday he and a few other guys from his platoon had decided to have a few drinks. They had a very good session, and then his leave was canceled so now he sits behind the wheel of his truck, suffering from a hangover. He is waiting for the loader which would remove the concrete blocks from the platform, so Tiger can go to the next ride.
    The regiment was alerted at eight in the morning, when the radio is already screaming about the attack on the airport. The remaining units of his regiment received tasks and served in various ways, and he and three other drivers were issued personal orders. He had to go to a big construction warehouse in the country. It was not explained any