Chapter 1: Rage Reigns Down

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“All Gave Some, Some Gave All”

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-Howard William Osterkamp

 

Mid-21st century, near the end of The War.

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The War raged on for years and both sides were cut to the bone…

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Vampire pilots were flying sortie after sortie after sortie with stolen human fighter jets, trying to bomb the humans’ secret research facility back to the stone age. The research facility was enormous. Although it was built to survive a nuclear explosion, it was starting to crumble under the vicious bombardment. Human fighter pilots, which outnumbered the vampire pilots ten to one, were mounting a fierce defense. The humans were also firing antiaircraft guns at vampire planes from the roof of the facility. The sky was a firestorm of jets, missiles, bullets and exploding debris. Bodies were falling from the heavens. Chaos itself was erupting in a catastrophic battle foretold of long ago as the end of times.  

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“Cap, I’m almost bingo fuel, requesting RTB!” Gucci said.

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“Bug out Gucci!” Cap replied.

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As Gucci turned back towards base, a missile slammed into the tail of his jet, downing him instantly.

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“I knew that grape was toast from the get go,” Deigo cursed.

 

“Zip it, Diego!” Cap snapped.

 

“Damn they’re fast, Cap. Why are they so fucking fast?” Malone spat.

 

“Superior visual acuity, better reflexes and more resistant to G-Forces,” Cap responded.

 

“So, what’s the bad news?” Malone asked.

 

“Some of their pilots used to be on our side,” Cap concluded.

 

More explosions claimed the sky in a chaotic cacophony. Vampires were shredding human fighters at a fearsome rate. They were pushing their planes up to 15gs, well beyond what any human operator could match. As the vampire pilots breached these extreme thresholds, some of their planes literally ripped apart midflight. Although the humans had outnumbered the vampires significantly at the start of the battle, due to their inability to keep pace with the vampire pilots, they were losing far more fighters. The humans were hard pressed to hold their own.

 

“I’m flying blind,” Deisel shouted.

 

There was so much aerial debris that it was clouding Diesel’s sensors. He as trying to visually navigate the carnage but it was night and he could barely see. Suddenly, his plane was clipped by an enemy fighter and he started free falling.

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“Punch out Diesel!” Malone cried.

 

Diesel didn’t listen. He had never lost a plane before and he wasn’t about to now. He worked furiously to stabilize the plane. Unfortunately, he didn’t notice a vampire plane nosediving after him. As the vampire’s plane approached terminal velocity, the vampire pilot ejected from her cockpit and angled her trajectory in such a way that she catapulted herself onto the tail of Diesel’s plane. The vampire grabbed on tight, attached several explosives to Diesel’s plane, and then jumped away. Seconds after the vampire jumped, the explosives blew the plan in two, sending Diesel to the afterlife in pieces.

 

“What the fuck?” Malone stammered suddenly, “what’s that sound?”

 

A loud rumbling could be heard overhead. The sound was so loud it overwhelmed the senses. Several commercial planes could be seen circling well above the fray at about thirty-two thousand feet high.

 

“Cap we got seven guppies at thirty-two angels, what are you orders?” Mad-dog cried out.

 

Cap was uncharacteristically silent.

 

“Cap?” Mad-dog asked again.

 

“What are they playing at, Cap?” Malone asked.

 

Before Cap could answer, the emergency exits on the passenger planes popped open and hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of vampires in wing suits jumped out into the night sky. They were in free fall, blanketing the light of the moon as they careened towards the aerial fray below.

 

“What the fuck?! They’re fucking insane,” Malone screamed, “what the fuck are they doing?!”

 

Vampires were everywhere. Everywhere. Masses of vampires were literally colliding with human fighter planes. Some fighters shredded the vampires with bullets. Some fighters crashed into vampires and split them in half.

 

But the others…

 

These vampires started landing on the human fighter planes. One fighter pilot saw a vampire grabbing on tight to one of his AIM-9 sidewinder missiles. The pilot fired his missile at an enemy fighter. The missile found its mark, carrying the unfortunate vampire to an explosive end. But other vampires started grabbing onto the wings or tails of the planes. Human pilots were in panic. Some pilots ejected immediately. Those that did regretted it. Vampires grabbed these pilots in midair and bit into their necks or ripped out their larynxes. Then these vampires latched onto their lifeless victims and parachuted to the ground with them. It was a feeding frenzy. Some human pilots remained in their planes and tried to shake the vampires off.

 

“Mad-dog!” screamed Cap, “you have two on your wing, try and shake them.”

 

Mad-dog started flying in circles and doing flips, trying to knock the vampires off her plane. They dug their nails in and climbed along the fuselages towards the cockpit. Once they reached their target, one vampire ripped the canopy open. He then wrenched Mad-dog out of her seat, tore her heart out of her chest, and threw her lifeless body to the ground. The other vampire climbed into the cockpit of the careening, out of control jet, took control of it midflight and started firing at human fighter jets.

 

“Cap we’re all going to die,” Malone finally realized.

 

“All hands listen up,” Cap broadcast to the entire human fleet, “we all know what sort of future we face if they take that facility. If you have vamps on your plane, are out of ammo or low on fuel, suicide these mother fuckers. LEAVE NONE ALIVE!!!”

In desperation, human pilots started crashing directly into vampire planes. Vampire pilots responded by ramming their planes into the facility itself. Charred vampire and human bodies were everywhere. The anti-aircraft guns stationed on the roof of the facility roof began to fall silent.

 

“What are they doing? They are too close together, we’ll hit our own planes,” Private Jenner screamed.

 

“They’re dead already, destroy every…” his commanding officer said before a plane crashed into him, killing him instantly.

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Meanwhile, chunks of the facility roof began crashing down on the people inside. An untold number of scientists, engineers, construction workers and their families were running amok. Explosions and debris smashed and suffocated thousands of people. In the midst of all this chaos, lead research scientists Matthew and Athena Payne scrambled about frantically, trying to activate the system ready.

 

“I’m telling you, the system checks out,” Matthew screamed, “we need to turn it on now.”

 

“I’m telling you the system needs more tests,” Athena shot back, “we don’t even know if it will interpret its directives the right way. And even if it does…”

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Athena trailed off.

 

“Well don’t keep it to yourself Athena!!!” Matthew screamed.

 

More explosions.

 

"It’ll need months if not years to assimilate all the data. We don’t even have all the data stored yet, not to mention the complete prioritization list. How will it know what’s most important?”

 

People screaming everywhere.

 

“At this rate, it’s going to have no more than minutes and the only data that will be left to assimilate will be Cocomelon and

 

Thomas Kincaid. We need to turn it on, NOW!”

 

“Matthew, we need to think this through. I’m taking about preserving the human race, our way of life, our species.”

 

"So am I Athena!”

 

“Excuse me,” Private Jenner’s voice quaked from above.

 

Both Matthew and Athena looked up to the second level balcony. They saw the lowly private, who couldn’t have been more than fourteen, shaking in his boots. The War had been raging for years and both sides were suffering critical manpower shortages from it. Humans were drafting children as young as twelve.

 

"What is it son?” Matthew asked, trying to calm him.

 

“The vampire sorties have stopped.”

 

“That’s good, right?” Athena asked.

 

“Forgive me for saying so but I don’t think it is,” Private Jenner replied.

 

“And why is that?” Athena asked nervously.

 

“Vampire infantry are marching towards the facility.”

 

“How many?” Matthew asked.

 

“All of them, I think. Tens of thousands at least,” Private Jenner responded.

 

“Well at least it’s not tens of millions,” Matthew chuckled on the verge of a nervous breakdown, “things are finally starting to go our way.”

 

“Are you serious right now?” Athena screamed, “They’re going to rip this center apart, take everyone and everything of value and enslave us all. We will lose everything, damn it, everything. Everything. Fine I concur. Turn the damn thing on.”

 

“I concur as well,” Matthew stated formally.

 

“We need a third,” Athena reminded him.

 

The screaming stopped. Matthew and Athena scanned about the room. They were looking to see if any of the project scientists were still alive. The amount of spattered blood and lifeless bodies quickly answered that question.

 

“Private… private?” Matthew began.

 

“Private Jenner sir,” he replied.

 

“Well Private Jenner, I issue you a field promotion to co-lead scientist of the Apsis Intelligenx Human Guardian Project. Get down here and concur now, God damn it!”

 

Thousands of feet marching in unison could be heard off in the distance. The vampires were getting closer. And they were chanting a cadence of sorts,

 

            We fight for your blood,

            Your blood is our right.

            We fight for your blood,

            Your blood gives us might.

            We fight for your blood,

            Your blood is in sight.

            We fight for your blood,

            You will die tonight!

 

Private Jenner ran down to the first floor and stood next to Matthew and Athena.

 

“I’m scared sir,” Private Jenner admitted.

 

“Me too,” Athena admitted.

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“Private Jenner, do you concur with turning on the Apsis Intelligenx Human Guardian Project Control System?” Matthew asked.

 

“What does it do?” Private Jenner asked.

 

“JUST SAY YES I CONCUR!!!” Matthew screamed.

 

“Yes, I concur,” Private Jenner responded frightfully.

 

And in that moment, Apsis Intelligenx, the Guardian of Humanity, was born.

 

“Apsis Intelligenx, you are the Guardian of Humanity. Your most important function is the preservation of the human race. Our survival as a species trumps all other considerations. Save as many of us as you can. Save as much as you can. Preserve all the beautiful contradictions that make us human. If we survive the war, we may become savages fighting for scraps. Guide us to a better tomorrow. Make the difficult choices we may be unable to make for ourselves,” Athena said, battling through her own tears.

 

She had been rehearsing that speech for quite a while.

 

“I understand,” Apsis said, “may I use sacrifice for the greater good as one of my tools?”

 

“What more must we sacrifice? We have invested everything we have into you already,” Michael cried.

 

“Vampires are swarming me. Thousands of vampires are breaching my outer perimeter as we speak. They’ve already made it to one of my data storage server rooms. They are everywhere. Other server rooms are at risk as well. I have just begun assimilating data. Without an immediate response, they will make it to my control center any minute. There is no way can assimilate everything in time.”

 

“So, Brady Bunch doesn’t make it to the future?” Matthew shrugged.

 

“What’s the Brady Bunch?” Private Jenner asked.

 

“My point exactly,” Matthew responded.

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“Destroy what you must,” Athena wept.

 

Matthew and Athena nodded at each other before Matthew stated, “Self-destruct that server room and any others you have to when they are a swarming with blood suckers. Send them back to hell!”

 

“I understand,” Apsis replied.

 

A massive explosion erupted on the outermost edge of the Apsis Intelligenx Human Guardian Control Center Complex. The earth quaked and the sky shook with fury. The heavens bled rage. Hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of vampires began screaming and running around in chaos.

 

“I calculate a thirty seven percent chance I will able to nullify this immediate threat. But it will be costly. There is one more thing, however,” Apsis said softly.

 

“Go on,” Matthew pressed.

 

“If either of you are caught and tortured or turned into vampires then, well… The point is, you both know far more of my secrets than I do. We can’t let that information fall into enemy hands.”

 

Matthew paused for a moment before saying solemnly, “I understand.”

 

Matthew then looked at Athena. She looked back at him and nodded her ascent. They both grabbed Private Jenner and hugged him tight against each other.

 

“Hell yeah, group hug,” Private Jenner cheered.

 

“I’m able to access the chips just fine Athena,” Apsis transmitted internally to her.

 

“All of them,” Athena asked aloud.

 

“All of them,” Apsis replied.

 

Athena smiled ever so slightly.

 

“Do it now, Apsis” Matthew transmitted internally.

 

And with that, Apsis Intelligenx doused its creators with liquid nitrogen, killing them instantly.