Available Darkness Season 1

seeing his unbridled glee for the feast, she was afraid of him .
    The gun in her hand suddenly felt powerless against the narrow-eyed juggernaut of fate.

    * * * *

    Brock

    Brock was now 40 yards behind the girl in the car. He lowered the night vision goggles on his mask, confirming she was indeed alone, her attention bolted on the old motel. Brock bit his lower lip, flipped up the goggles up, and crept slowly towards the car.

    * * * *

    John

    John stood over the two corpses, invigorated and oddly … euphoric .
    He was surprised how much he was enjoying the hunt, but not enough so to stop playing with his prey.
    His hungry eyes wandered the parking lot for a second before his ears pricked to the sound of a few gunmen approaching from behind. He lifted his hands in the air and slowly turned around, a predatory smile spreading across his face. John threw his head back and quietly dared them as if he, not them with their weapons, held all the cards.
    “I’ll give you the same chance as the others,” he leaned forward, paused, and then whispered, “run.”
    One of the men barked into an unseen radio, “Alpha Seven to Alpha One, do you copy?”
    The radio’s silence washed the man’s face in sudden worry. There was a small fissure in the cool of his voice when he repeated the call. Gunshots erupted behind the motel, echoing in the morning.
    “He’s dead,” John said without emotion, though he had no idea if Alpha One was indeed one of the men he’d already fed on. One was named Sergei and the other Christian. Bits of their memories now intermingled with his own, a too-confusing brew that had yet to settle. John tried not to think about them, though, certain he’d get lost down a rabbit hole if he did.
    “I killed him,” John said, “And you’re next unless you run.”
    Two of the men that flanked Alpha Seven stepped forward, one yelled, “Hands behind your head, drop down to the ground!”
    Though part of John was still very afraid, there was something in him, a blood lust, which thrust him forward without regard for his life. The gunmen were so warm and appetizing. Their fear was intoxicating, fueling John’s desire to take their lives. Hunger, twisting like a dark parasite, coiled then expanded somewhere inside his guts. Wisps of blue and magenta aura surrounded the men, beckoning John to draw from their wells. His fingers tingled in anticipation.
    John stepped forward, staring down Alpha Seven, almost daring the man to take a shot. The soldier refused to break his stare even as John stood just inches from him.
    A shot rang out. One of the two flankers was hit and fell to the ground screaming. The remaining gunmen spun around, each facing a different direction, weapons aimed into the fading darkness, searching for the shooter. They both flicked down goggles on their masks. Too late. Two more shots rang out and the mask of Alpha Seven’s helmet shattered in a splash of blood, apparently no match for the bullets being shot at them. The other man was hit in the leg and fell to the ground, still clutching his gun, looking for the gunman.
    Larry appeared, climbing over the top of his overturned van. He jumped down, rifle slung over his shoulder, hair half as wild as the look in his eyes. Apparently John wasn’t the only one invigorated by death dealing.
    “Hot damn, that was some fine ass shooting,” Larry said as he quickly ran forward, paused with a slight grin, then finished the two wounded gunmen with a matching set of head shots. “Don’t worry, I took care of the rest before they could get away.”
    John dropped to the ground, laying hands on one of the men’s corpses to capture the last bit of life as it fled his body. The stream was different, weaker, and not as satisfying as the others. It was also full of pain. John flinched as he felt the first gunshot which hit the man in the leg. He tried to pull away, but couldn’t break the connection as he continued to feed on the last of the man’s life. As the corpse burned, John continued to twitch, pain splintering his entire body.
    He relived the man’s final moments, seeing through the dead man’s eyes. He saw Larry barreling towards him, gun drawn, aimed and…
    An explosion went off in John’s mind as he jumped back from the corpse and broke the connection. He was too late, though.
    Pain twisted through his body as something else, far darker and lonelier, wrapped itself around his mind. He felt himself falling into a void, his body