"Infestation" - treatment by Derek Paterson
DPaterson57@aol.com  September 2003

Teaser:  DONNA MAVERICK and her sidekick THE ROOKIE check out an
abandoned factory on the edge of town.  The darkened building seems
empty.  They split up to cover more ground and the Rookie stumbles
across a sweet-looking little girl who's been watching him.  He calls
to Donna for advice -- she tells him to shoot the girl right now!  The
Rookie hesitates, and POW! the "little girl" is on top of him,
transformed into a snarling fanged beast that tears his neck open.
Donna has her own problems with a second beast-child but fights it off
and runs to help the Rookie.  It's too late, she puts the Rookie out
of his misery with a bullet to the head despite his terrified plea for
mercy.  She then sets a powerful bomb and drives away fast before a
huge explosion destroys the factory and everything inside.  She begins
to relax -- but a series of THUMPS! make her car swerve wildly.  The
rear window shatters and chuckling laughter invades the car (although
her rearview mirror remains empty).  Donna arms a grenade, drops it
into the passenger seat and throws herself from the speeding car.  It
EXPLODES seconds later, turning the car into a fireball.  She dusts
herself down, gets out her phone and calls for a pick-up.

When city vice detective DAVE KLINGER and his partner track a pimp to
a run-down apartment block, they stumble into a bloodbath.  The pimp's
dead with dozens of bite marks all over his body.  The place stinks
and flies buzz everywhere, Klinger slaps his neck when one lands on
him.  Klinger has to go outside to call in the incident.  When he
returns to the pimp's apartment his partner is dead and the only
possible exit, a broken window, overlooks a sheer five-story drop.  As
Klinger waits outside for backup he discovers a truck in a nearby
alleyway hidden under a pile of junk, with US Army serial numbers.
The rear doors look like they were blown apart by explosives.  The
truck interior contains a dozen metal containers, their broken locks
twisted like pretzels and their doors dented as if they were bashed
repeatedly from inside by sledgehammers.  The doors each have slots
covered by thick glass plates.

A pair of suits show up and take over, Klinger assumes they're cops
but when they insist Klinger comes with them and blindfold him he
begins to suspect otherwise.  He's taken to an empty underground
parking lot where they give him a brief but uncomfortable hands-on
medical examination, then question him about what he saw and heard.
Klinger can't tell them anything they don't already know.  They
blindfold him again and drop him off at his station house, warning him
not to say anything about what just happened.  He goes in and makes
his report, and includes his being abducted by unknown lunatics who
may or may not be gay.

Klinger goes home and tries to get some sleep but he can't stop
thinking about the day's events.  He finally dozes off in a chair in
front of the TV.  In his dreams he remembers hearing noises in the
pimp's apartment, childish whispering and laughter.  He snaps awake
and realizes the same noise is now in his apartment.  The TV's off and
the lights don't work.  Klinger fumbles in the dark for his pistol as
the voices come closer and every shadow becomes a threat.  WHAM! the
door's kicked open and a good-looking woman he doesn't know empties
her pistol into the darkness and grabs Klinger.  She pulls him outside
and downstairs, throws him into her car and floors the gas.  Klinger
opens his mouth to ask who the hell she is but she cuts him off by
stabbing him in the thigh with a syringe, knocking him unconscious.

Klinger awakens in what looks like a hospital room (part of a secret
underground HQ).  A suit (BORIS) and the woman from his apartment
(DONNA) take Klinger into a mortuary where his dead partner lies on a
slab.  "The pimp was clean, no needle marks, no drugs or alcohol in
his bloodstream.  They fed on him, drained him completely.  They must
have been hungry.  Then you showed up.  They killed your partner after
they tested his blood.  He had cancer.  You on the other hand tested
positive, which is why you're still alive -- and why they came looking
for you tonight."  They show him a cell with a thick glass window.
Inside the cell sits a little boy who stares intently at Klinger.
"Let me show you what he's looking at..."  Boris shines a blue light
on Klinger's face, a mirror reveals bright pink polka dots.  "Reaction
to the blood test.  You're a marked man.  You'll need regular daily
injections to make you less palatable."  Klinger still doesn't know
what the hell they're talking about.  Boris hits a switch, flooding
the cell with blue light.  The "little boy" is revealed as a snarling
monster who's all fangs and bright yellow eyes -- he SLAMS against the
window, shaking the entire room, but the glass holds and a powerful
electrical charge repels him.  When Boris turns off the light he's a
little boy again.  "That's what we're dealing with.  That's what
killed your partner.  And that's why we need your help, Detective
Klinger."

Still thoroughly skeptical, Klinger undergoes a series of intelligence
and reaction tests.  Donna informs him he's at the monkey end of the
brains ladder but at least he's quick on the draw.  And he has no
dependents, he's single and unattached (this comment worries Klinger
somewhat).  Boris is more upbeat, "The blood test consists of a
pin-prick bite, usually on the neck."  (Klinger remembers the fly that
landed on his neck in the pimp's apartment.)  "As well as telling them
your blood type and suitability, the bite also injects a chemical soup
into your bloodstream that acts as a catalyst, changing your body to
prepare you for fertilization.  The change will affect your senses.
Your sense of smell will become much sharper.  Bright light will hurt
your eyes.  By way of compensation your night vision will improve.
This will help you in your search, since your quarry rarely comes out
to play during the day."  Klinger says he's heard enough, he'd like to
leave now.  Donna objects but Boris says that's his choice, he orders
Donna to take Klinger home and apologizes for making him wear a
blindfold again but the HQ's location must remain secret.

Donna doesn't say a word during the drive.  "If you're mad with me,
just say so..."  She dumps Klinger outside his apartment block just
before dawn and roars away.  Klinger calls the station but the puzzled
night sergeant says Klinger has been reassigned, he's off the duty
roster, his desk and locker have been cleaned out.  Klinger fumes and
requests the captain calls him as soon as he gets in.  He opens the
fridge, grabs some milk -- the fridge light doesn't come on and
there's water on the floor.  He checks the fuse box, it's been turned
off.  Klinger realizes his apartment's dark only he hasn't noticed
until now!  A line of holes in the plaster above the fuse box lead up
to the ceiling, cross the room, go down the opposite wall and stop at
the window.  Klinger checks the window, the frame is splintered and a
child's footprint decorates the sill.  He backs out of his apartment
and goes downstairs, fighting the feeling he's being watched.  Donna's
car screeches to a stop.  "You want to see something interesting?  Get
in."

She takes him to a church, passing a couple of cop cars.  Inside the
church is a crime scene, Boris is already there and is arguing with
another guy (BAIN) over jurisdiction, Boris is surprised to see
Klinger and Bain isn't too happy to see Donna.  The priest lies dead,
puncture wounds on his neck.  Donna explains, "Your garden variety
vampires can't enter a church or stand on sanctified ground without
getting their toes burned, which means they didn't do this.  Cause of
death is blood loss.  That kinda narrows down the list of suspects."
Klinger just doesn't get it until Donna explains, "Vampires, you know,
those guys in the movies, sleep by day, suck blood by night.  They
usually keep a low profile since we kill them on sight.  That's how
come you'll find traces of silver in Police-issue ammunition.  You
can't protect and serve unless you're prepared for the worst.  That
guy over there heads up Fang Squad, the city's vampire hunter detail.
Anyway..."  Klinger exits the church fast, feeling faint.  Donna
follows and waits patiently for him to get his breath back.  "Happens
sometimes.  No big deal.  You've got their juice floating in your
bloodstream, you can't expect not to be affected.  Now that you're
outside, do you feel anything?"  Klinger asks her what she means.
"Close your eyes and reach out.  The little bastard who did this to
you.  Do you know where he is?"  Klinger's confused, but then he
realizes what she's talking about.  "It's a she," he tells Donna.

Alice, the little girl seen in the teaser opening, and a handful of
her playmates confront a dozen adult vampires in a secluded office
building.  The blinds are closed, the room is dark.  The vampires are
contemptuous but wary.  Alice tells them their days are numbered, that
they have to leave the city and find another place to live --
somewhere far away.  The vampires snarl and get ready to rumble.  "Do
you really think you can defeat us, you little pipsqueak?  We are
warriors, some of us are centuries old, there is nothing you can teach
us about battle.  You may carry the fire, but you are only sparks to
our raging flames."  Alice and the other kids whip out toy sunglasses
and put them on.  The blinds snap open!  Sunlight bathes the room
which towers above the city, catching dawn's early light.  The kids
stand motionless and unharmed as the vampires ignite and burn in
screaming agony.  "Would anyone like to comment on the irony of that
final statement?" says Alice, and the kids all laugh.

The dawn light hurts Klinger's eyes, Donna lends him her sunglasses.
"It'll wear off in a couple of days and you'll be back to normal."
Over an early morning bagel, he asks why they killed the priest.  "I'm
guessing they wanted to test themselves.  They're finding out they're
not like other vampires.  They don't have the same restrictions.  Holy
ground doesn't hurt them, Holy water doesn't burn them, they don't
have crucifix aversion.  That's how they were designed."  Klinger asks
how she knows so much about them?  She evades the question and says,
"They look like children but believe me, they're not.  Someone has to
stop them.  As it happens I'm looking for a new partner.  Ask
yourself, do you want to go back to your job in vice and save the city
from moral decline?  Or do you want to save hundreds, maybe thousands
of lives?"

Donna receives a call, "Someone reported hearing kids playing in a
derelict building and phoned social services.  It's not much to go on
but we have to check it out."  They enter the darkened building.  "Up
or down?" Donna asks.  "Up," Klinger replies, sensing something's up
there, and frightened by the fact he can sense this.  Upstairs they're
confronted with a crazy wino who attacks them.  Klinger fights the
wino off and the guy falls all the way to the bottom of the stairwell,
CRUNCH!  Donna calls it in while Klinger wanders along the hallway,
peering into rooms.  He does a double take.  A young boy lies asleep,
curled up in a corner.  Klinger takes aim and the boy's eyes snap
open.  Donna sees him aiming and shouts for him to shoot, but he
can't.  Donna pushes Klinger aside and empties her gun as the boy
leaps through the window, he's gone in an instant and there's no sign
of his body below.  Donna slams Klinger hard up against a wall.  "Next
time, shoot... or I'll shoot you."  She storms off.  Klinger catches
up and apologizes for screwing up, she tells him to forget it, he
isn't the first and he won't be the last, just be thankful he's still
alive.  The body baggers arrive, Donna points the way and leaves them
to it.  She tells Klinger about The Rookie, "He didn't stand a chance
because he wasn't prepared.  He hesitated, and he died as a result."
He asks, When did he die?  "Yesterday."  Klinger swallows hard and
asks the obvious question, Why isn't regular vampire detail handling
this?  "Because they couldn't shoot kids either.  You at least had
your finger on the trigger.  That's a start.  Hopefully next time
you'll actually squeeze the damn thing."

Bain and two of his men demand to know what Donna's involved in.  She
tells him to go to hell.  Klinger intervenes and Bain's men beat him
up.  Donna breaks it up by threatening to shoot Bain.  They drive out
of there fast.  Bain's men confirm they planted a GPS tracer under
Donna's car.

Another call brings Klinger and Donna to a toy shop of all places.
The owner can't understand all the attention from the police, the
theft is trivial, just a bunch of kids' sunglasses, no big deal.
Klinger's attention is drawn to the teenage assistant who found the
back door broken open and whose responses are sluggish and suspicious.
Donna blue-flashes the dazed asst. and pink polka dots show up.  The
asst. goes nuts and Klinger can barely hold him.  Donna injects the
asst. and calls cops in to arrest him and keep him in custody for 24
hours.  When Klinger asks what the hell's going on Donna explains the
power vampires have over their victims, "Call it hypnosis if you like.
The wino who attacked us was defending the boy.  They must have
ordered the assistant to attack anyone who asked questions.  He'll be
OK by this time tomorrow.  He's one of the lucky ones."

Boris meets Donna and Klinger in the office building, they step
gingerly through the charred remains of the adult vampires.  "Anyone
care to guess what happened here?"  Klinger looks out the window,
judges the angle of the sun and makes an intuitive guess.  Donna says,
"They lured these poor assholes in here and they fried them.  They've
removed the competition.  That means they plan to stay in the city."
That's good, right?  Donna replies, "Depends on your viewpoint.  They
know we're out looking for them, hunting them down.  They've decided
not to run."  Klinger says, Now we know why they needed sunglasses.

Donna takes Klinger back to her apartment and makes him lunch, which
is a surprise.  A framed picture shows her with an older man, her
father?  In another she's wearing police uniform, newly graduated.  In
another she's with Bain, FBI logo in background.  An entire wall is
covered in guns, big and small, and Donna's into ammo fetish
magazines.  While they eat Klinger asks about Bain.  "My ex-boss, head
of Fang Squad.  He's pissed because Boris has command authority, at
least until the little bastards are dead and the emergency's over.
Fang Squad lost a dozen men the first night.  His best teams went down
like skittles.  It's like I said, they couldn't bring themselves to
shoot children... even when they knew they're not really children at
all."  Again Klinger asks how she knows so much.  She picks up the
first photograph.  "Because my father designed them.  He took vampire
DNA and stripped out what he thought were the evil traits.  He was a
visionary, and his vision was noble.  He wanted to cure vampires of
the worst effects of vampirism.  Wanted to make them whole again.
Wanted to blend them into human society.  He created a new generation
and guided every aspect of their development.  He was like a father to
them.  And in return, to express their gratitude, they killed him.  He
didn't count on their inheriting the evil knowledge of the vampires
they're descended upon.  That makes them hundreds of years old in
relative terms.  The experiment was pronounced a failure, the lab was
closed down.  The vampire children were transported to a military
facility to be put into secure storage.  But they escaped in transit.
We've been hunting them down ever since."  Donna's pager goes off.
Her horrified expression tells Klinger there's trouble.

They creep through the HQ's hallways, guns drawn.  Main power is off,
emergency lighting casts terrifying shadows and reveals several dead
bodies.  The cell where the little boy was being held is empty, the
thick window shattered.  Main power is out, the control panel's
wrecked.  As Donna and Klinger play hide-and-seek with the vampire
boy, Donna becomes more and more puzzled, "There aren't enough bodies.
Where did everyone go?"  They open a door and discover the missing
people, turned into shuffling undead.  Donna and Klinger retreat but
the undead come from everywhere.  Donna hesitates, unable to shoot
familiar friends and colleagues.  The undead overpower her and carry
her off into the shadows.  The vampire boy attacks and overpowers
Klinger, but spits and vomits as soon as he sinks his teeth into
Klinger's neck, giving Klinger the chance to pursue Donna.  But the
other vampire kids, led by Alice, step out and block his path, silent
and menacing.  Klinger runs for his life and gets outside just as
Boris and a backup team arrive, Klinger stops them from going in, it's
too late.  Boris opens a hidden panel in the wall and pulls levers,
Klinger asks him what he's doing.  "Welding the doors shut, sealing
them in.  We'll bury the little bastards under fifty feet of
concrete."  What about Donna?  "She's dead... or she's undead.  Either
way, this is what she would want."

Klinger and Boris ascend to the HQ's ground level parking lot.  Boris
says he'll arrange for Klinger to transfer back to vice if that's what
he wants, or he can pick another posting and Boris will arrange it.
Klinger thinks about it... then notices Donna's car is missing from
its space.

Donna drives, frightened but alive.  Alice sits in the passenger seat,
watching her.  The back seat is jammed with the other vampire kids.
One of them stands on the seat and leans forward with his head tilted
and his mouth opened impossibly wide so that his extended fangs
threaten to close on Donna's neck.  One wrong move and he'll bite.

Boris calls the police and requests assistance in finding Donna's
missing car.  Klinger borrows a vehicle and drives like crazy, hoping
to strike out in the right direction.  After some minutes he loses
hope and tells Boris he's lost her.  He finds himself driving
alongside Bain in another car.  Bain does a double take and waves his
driver to peel off.  Klinger, suspicious, pursues them and forces them
to stop.  He beats up the driver (one of the guys who beat him up
earlier) and insists Bain tells him what the hell he's up to.  Bain
admits they were following Donna's car "So we can find out what the
bitch is up to."  Klinger realizes Bain is tracking Donna with the GPS
tracer planted earlier.  Klinger gets in and drives while Bain gives
directions.  They leave the city and follow a desert road that
seemingly goes nowhere.  Klinger brakes and backs up to check a hazard
fence that warns of a "Dangerous Gully" -- it's a fake, set up to
block a cleverly masked spur road.  They follow this and discover a
secluded building, fenced off and apparently deserted, there's no
sentry on the gate and the gate lock is broken.  Dept. of Defense
signs warn that unauthorized persons will be shot.  Klinger goes in,
unaware of Bain's malevolent glare.

Alice escorts Donna through the empty building and into a laboratory.
The vampire kids power up computers and equipment.  "Aren't you going
to ask why you're still alive?"  Donna shrugs, trying to hide her
fear.  Alice tells her this is where her father died.  "You mean it's
where you murdered him?"  Alice shakes her head, "It's where he was
killed."  She circles the laboratory, pointing out bullet holes in the
walls and equipment and showing where vampire kids died cornered like
rats as they tried to escape.  She finishes up at the spot where
Donna's father died -- trying to defend them against the security
team.

Klinger and Bain advance through the building which is a maze of dark
corridors and rooms.  Klinger looks for Donna while Bain keeps looking
back over his shoulder and glancing at his watch as if he's expecting
company soon.  Klinger's instinct takes him closer to the laboratory.

Donna doesn't believe Alice who tells her, "Your father suspected the
authorities were frightened of us.  The results of his tests suggested
we had none of the weaknesses traditional vampires possess.  He
suspected we were in danger and arranged for some of us to be smuggled
out of the laboratory inside equipment containers.  The others were to
follow as soon as possible... but the security team arrived before he
could accomplish this."  Donna asks who sent the team?  Alice doesn't
know, "But they wanted the experiment ended and all test subjects
terminated.  They almost succeeded."  Donna still doesn't believe a
word of it.  Alice indicates a gleaming vault door big enough to
belong in Fort Knox.  "The truth lies in there.  They couldn't risk
your discovering how your father died, which was possible because of
your security clearance."  Donna challenges Alice to prove it.  Alice
shrugs, "We don't have the code to open the door.  Perhaps it's for
the best.  As for why you're still alive... there are two reasons.  We
honor your father's memory.  And, we rather hoped we might convince
you not to kill us.  Stupid, I know..."

Outside, unknown to anyone (except Bain), SWAT vehicles close on the
laboratory.  The "Fang Squad" have tracked down their boss.

Klinger and Bain find the laboratory and Klinger's relieved to find
Donna's still alive.  He doesn't want to risk her being killed by the
vampire kids.  He tells Bain to stay put, and moves further into the
lab.  This suits Bain fine.  Klinger notices a control panel has been
smashed and is hanging off the wall, the sign says "Emergency Roof
Open/Close."

Donna's torn between mistrust and curiosity.  Alice tells her how they
want to migrate to somewhere quiet and peaceful where no one will
bother them.  "Out of the country, preferably.  Perhaps a remote part
of South America.  We can adapt to any climate.  The locals wouldn't
even know we were there.  We'd only take enough blood to survive..."
Donna tests one of the computer terminals, it's live and connected.
She logs in, checks out the system...

Klinger moves closer and discovers the vampire kids are all there,
just -- waiting.  Their entire attention on Donna.  Alice frowns and
looks around but doesn't see Klinger.  She concentrates on Donna too,
and Klinger hears their whispered thoughts beating down upon Donna,
pressing Donna to penetrate the lab system and find the vault door
security code.  And that's just what Donna does.  Her access level
gets her past the checks and invites her to continue.

The vampire kids bare their teeth when Klinger steps out and aims his
gun at Alice.  "Mind telling me what you're doing?" he asks Donna.
The vault locks hiss and click ominously.  Donna shakes herself out of
the semi-trance and realizes she's been manipulated.  Alice smiles in
triumph.  Klinger reasons, "Why would they kill the local vampire
population if they intended to go somewhere else?  It's all a lie."
Klinger tries to shoot Alice but the vampire kids focus on him,
preventing him from pulling the trigger.  The vault door opens wide
revealing Donna's father, alive.  Donna runs to him but Klinger grabs
her and holds her back.  Her father smiles revealing vampire fangs.
Klinger tries to shoot him but Donna wrestles his gun down.  Her
father invites Donna to come to him -- "I will make you immortal,
too."  Donna's horrified, Klinger looks for a way out and drags Donna
after him.  They run into Bain and the Fang Squad who enter with guns
blazing, determined to wipe out the vampire kids.  But the kids move
too fast for bullets to hit them!  One by one the cops are overwhelmed
and torn to pieces.  Bain is astounded to learn Donna's father is
still alive, and realizes he took refuge in the vault when the
laboratory was "cleaned out".  Bain tries to shoot him but Donna's
father contemptuously grabs his gun and throws it away.  The kids drag
Bain down and kill him, then joyously gather round Donna's father like
he's Santa Claus.  He talks to Donna, telling her how he's managed to
refine vampirism in to a virus that doesn't have to be transmitted by
bite -- that his next step is to create a generation of infected
vampire children who will rise to dominate the world, all of them
under his control.  An infestation of irresistible evil such as has
never been seen before.

Klinger looks up and sees dark panels covering the ceiling.  He
remembers the smashed control panel.  Alice follows his look and
orders the other kids to get him.  Klinger climbs like a monkey and
just stays ahead of the kids until he reaches the manual control that
opens the panels.  Direct sunlight floods the laboratory, the kids
cower and shield their eyes but are otherwise unharmed.  Donna grabs
her father before he can reach the safety of the open vault.  He
ignites and burns like a torch, his remains collapse in a smoking
heap.  Klinger expects to die too, but the vampire kids break down and
cry helplessly.  Boris and his men arrive, having tracked Bain here,
but they lower their guns when they see the crying kids.  Donna almost
pats Alice's head in sympathy, but draws back and joins Klinger.

Donna reflects that everything Alice said about the authorities
wanting the vampire kids dead is probably true -- except for the fact
her father wasn't being used by the kids like she suspected.  Boris
has brought containers for the kids, heavier and more secure than the
ones used previously.  But Klinger says they won't be necessary.  His
instincts tell him that Donna's father's experiments were successful
-- he did remove the evil from the kids... but failed to protect
himself and turned into what he was trying to destroy.  Boris relents
and orders the kids taken to a secure facility where they'll be
studied, and if what Klinger says is true then they'll be turned over
to a special welfare unit and brought up as normal kids.  Donna leaves
with Boris who promises to take care of her.

Klinger goes back to being a vice cop, but his heart's not in it.  The
days go by and he loses his night vision and other enhanced senses.
One morning he answers the doorbell.  It's Donna.  Maybe she wants her
sunglasses back?  "Swap them for a bagel."  They head off to have
breakfast together.

-Infestation - treatment.-


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