Vampire Civilization Ch. 13

"I've never seen anything like this," U.S. Army Colonel Amelia McGrath said, looking at the camera footage. Inside her top secret bunker in what remained of Washington D.C. Amelia looked at her new confederate, Major Winston Chan, a newcomer to her brigade by way of San Francisco, California. The tall, dark-haired and sharp-featured Asian American soldier looked perplexed by what he was beholding. The footage on screen was remarkable and frightening at the same time.

Three dark-skinned female vampires who moved at cartoonishly impossible speeds took out some of the best trained human soldiers in the City of Atlanta, Georgia. The mysterious female vampires, two undead African women and a rather dark-skinned South Asian female vampire, moved like no other vampires that Amelia and her allies had ever seen. The soldiers never stood a chance, and couldn't even get a shot before they got slaughtered. Amelia looked at her friend and lover Captain Lucius Crowley, and the stoic African American soldier scratched his head, clearly disturbed by what he was seeing. They were seasoned soldiers and vampire hunters all, and this was beyond all of them...

"This is extraordinary," Major Winston Chan said after a long pause, and he looked at Colonel Amelia McGrath and Captain Lucius Crowley expectantly. The two of them were the leaders of the human army, and along with thousands of former soldiers and militiamen, they were slowly taking back the continental United States from the vampires. With the radiation fallout fading from the skies, the semi-permanent darkness which had been the vampires keenest advantage was receding, and the tide of the war was turning in humanity's favor.

They'd taken back town after town, village after village, and the human uprising against the vampires was on the upswing. Human willpower and advanced weaponry was proving to be more than a match for the supernatural powers of the vampires. Ordinary men and women were grabbing weapons and going after the vampires, now that the U.S. military had proven that they were beatable. The military brass felt that they were winning the war, taking down one vampire-ruled enclave after another. Of course, that was before they learned of the existence of super-vampires who could do things that human beings can only dream of...

"Those dark-skinned female vampires aren't like the others, shoot, they move like Speedy Gonzalez from those Saturday morning cartoons I used to watch back in the day," said Captain Lucius Crowley, shaking his head in sheer disbelief. Amelia sighed, and Lucius gently laid his hand on his beloved's shoulders. Tall, alabaster-skinned, and dark-haired, the decidedly stoic Amelia is the very embodiment of the resilient American woman. Still, even a strong woman has her limits, and Amelia looked deflated for the first time since Lucius had known her. They'd known each other for a while and kept no secrets from each other.

Amelia bit her lip, and Lucius could see the wheels turning in his lady's mind. Amelia is smart and capable, and downright vicious when she needs to be. The three dark-skinned female vampires who moved like Superman did in those old movies represented something of a challenge, and Amelia had to admit that they were formidable. Still, Amelia firmly believes that the power of a vampire, even a super vampire, is no match for human ingenuity and willpower. Those super vampires had a weakness, and one way or another, Amelia was determined to find out what it was...

"Alright, people, those three female vampires are something else, they're stronger and faster than anything we've seen, but we've taken down some pretty big fish, and I think they can be beaten," Amelia said firmly, looking hard at Lucius and Chan. The two men nodded, and for a tense moment, no one said anything. The war against the vampires was unlike anything the world had ever seen. The undead caught mankind by surprise, and it seemed that North America was destined to lead the fight of humanity against the vampires. Mexico was finally stepping up to the plate and taking the fight to the undead.

Australia was in danger of being overrun by the undead, especially after the fall of major cities like Melbourne, Sydney and Victoria. China and Japan surprised the entire world by cooperating with one another and forming a joint military task force to deal with the undead. The islands of the Caribbean and Latin America were faring surprisingly well against the undead. Africa and the Arab world had taken the appeasement approach, maintaining the ancient agreements they'd had with the undead long before the rest of mankind discovered their existence. The people of North America believed differently. Either the undead would get wiped out, or humanity would vanish. There could be no middle ground between human and monster...

"Colonel, I've listened to the audio on the tapes, and it's come to my attention that one of the female vampires speaks with the faint remnants of a West African accent, my former wife is from Ghana, and I believe those monsters may come from that part of the world," Major Chan said evenly. Amelia grinned, and resisted the urge to high-five the Asian soldier, since this was a very formal classic military briefing. Lucius grinned, and Amelia beamed at him. They'd been at this game long enough to know that when dealing with a seemingly invincible enemy, every little bit of information helped to even the odds.

The majority of the vampires that Amelia and her military buddies managed to slaughter were newbies, monsters that, mere months or years ago, were once human beings. The Makers had gone around the world, infecting human beings and turning them into vampires. The Makers were vampires who had been around for many decades, possibly centuries. They were smarter, stronger and much harder to kill than the newbies. The question is, are there vampires above the Makers? The video they were watching was definite proof of this...

"Alright, people, I want this video analyzed by experts on everything from linguistics to audio and everything else, these super vampires came from somewhere, possibly West Africa, and if we are to destroy them, we need to know more about them," Amelia said, and Lucius nodded eagerly while Major Chan stroked his chin thoughtfully. Just like that, they began to formulate a plan of action against the new threat. They didn't know the names or identities of the three vampire femme fatales who came out of nowhere and changed the game. The abilities displayed by these unknown female vampires put those of the Makers to shame.

Amelia McGrath, U.S. Army Colonel turned slayer of vampires, hasn't risen to the top of the military in the post-apocalyptic world by being anything other than smart, ruthless and adaptable. The super vampires represented a challenge, and were clearly a threat to Amelia and her plans to rule a vampire-free United States of America. With no established government, the post-apocalyptic America might just accept a paramilitary strongwoman as its next leader, provided that Colonel Amelia McGrath succeeded in liberating the country from the undead. The great leader has her work cut out for her, and nothing will get in her way. Let the vampires of the world, including the supremely powerful ones, beware.