The Fall

Setrakian then set about preparing the experiment. Fet sat back on a stool, watching the worms lash about inside the glass, driven by blood hunger. Fet remembered Setrakian’s warning to Eph, about destroying Kelly:

In the act of releasing a loved one… you taste what it is to be turned. To go against everything you are. That act changes one forever.

And Nora, about love being the true victim of this plague, the instrument of our downfall:

The undead returning for their Dear Ones. Human love corrupted into vampiric need.

Fet said, “Why didn’t they kill you in those tunnels? Since it was a trap?”

Setrakian looked up from his contraption. “Believe it or not, they were afraid of me back then. I was still in the prime of life, I was vital, I was strong. They are indeed sadists, but, you must remember, their numbers were quite small back then. Self-preservation was paramount. Unbridled expansion of their species was a taboo. And yet they had to hurt me. And so they did.”

Fet said, “They are still afraid of you.”

“Not me. Only what I represent. What I know. In truth, what can one old man do against a horde of vampires?”

Fet did not believe Setrakian’s humility, not for a moment.

The old man continued, “I think the fact that we don’t give up-this idea that the human spirit keeps going in the face of absolute adversity-puzzles them. They are arrogant. Their origin, if confirmed, will attest to that.”

“What is their origin, then?”

“Once we get the book, once I am completely certain… I will reveal it to you.”

The radio started to fade, and Fet first thought it was his bad ear. He stood and turned the crank, powering the unit, keeping it going. Human voices were largely absent from the airwaves, replaced by heavy interference and occasional high-pitched tones. But one commercial sports radio station still had broadcast power, and though apparently all of its on-air talent were gone, a lone producer remained. He had taken up the microphone, changing the format from Yankees-Mets-Giants-Jets-Rangers-Knicks talk to news updates culled off the Internet and from occasional callers.

“… the national Web site of the FBI now reports that they have Dr. Ephraim Goodweather in federal custody, following an incident in Brooklyn. He is the fugitive former New York City CDC official who released that first video-remember that? The guy in the shed, chained like a dog. Remember when that demon stuff seemed pretty hysterical and far-fetched? Those were good times. Anyway… it says he’s been arrested on… what’s this? Attempted murder? Jeez. Just when you think we might be able to get some real answers. I mean, this guy was at the center of the whole initial thing, if memory serves. Right? He was there at the plane, at Flight 753. And he was wanted for the murder of one of the other first responders, a guy who worked for him, I think the name was Jim Kent. So, clearly, there’s something going on with this guy. My opinion-I think they’re gonna Oswald him. Two bullets to the gut, and he’s silenced forever. Another piece in this giant puzzle that no one seems to be able to put together. Anybody out there has any thoughts on this, any ideas, any theories, and your phone is still working, hit me up on the sports hotline…”

Setrakian sat with his eyes closed.

Fet said, “Attempted murder?”

“Palmer,” said Setrakian.

“Palmer!” said Fet. “You mean-it’s not some bogus charge?” Fet’s shock quickly turned to appreciation. “Gunning down Palmer. Christ. Good ol’ doc. Why didn’t I think of that?”

“I am very glad you did not.”

Fet ran his fingers through the hair on the top of his head, as though waking himself up. “And then there were two, huh?” He stepped back, looking out through the half-open door to the storefront. Dusk was falling through the windows beyond. “So you knew about this?”

“I suspected.”

“You didn’t want to stop him?”

“I could see-there was no stopping. A man has to act on his own impulses sometimes. Understand-he is a medical scientist caught up in a pandemic, the source of which defies everything he thought he knew. Add to that the personal conflict involving his wife. He took the course he thought was right.”

“Bold move. Would it have meant anything? If he had succeeded?”

“Oh, I think so.” Setrakian went back to his tinkering.

Fet smiled. “I didn’t think he had it in him.”

“I’m sure he didn’t either.”

Fet thought he saw a shadow pass before the front windows then. He had been half-turned away, the image in his periphery. It had struck him as a large being.

“I think we’ve got a customer,” said Fet, hurrying to the back door.

Setrakian stood, reaching quickly for his wolf’s-head staff, twisting the top and exposing a few inches of steel.