Rotter World by Scott R. Baker

party to look for survivors. Yet last night Paul and Elena risked the entire raiding party to rescue six humans.”
    “Quit exaggerating. It wasn’t that bad.”
    “They didn’t know that. Do you remember the last time they sent a raiding party deep into rotter territory?”
    Of course Dravko remembered. It had happened five months ago when the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant on the New Hampshire-Massachusetts border threatened to go critical and melt down, which would have contaminated most of the coastal region, including their camp. Elena and Paul had dispatched a raiding party of four humans and two vampires to shut down the plant. It turned out to be a suicide mission. The party had succeeded in shutting down the reactor. However, no one ever heard from them again. Both commanders promised they would never send out their people on such a mission again, a promise they had kept until last night.
    Dravko wanted to avoid any further discussion. He rolled onto his stomach, breaking eye contact with Tibor. “I’m sure they had their reasons for ordering last night’s raid.”
    “Really?” Tibor rolled out of his bunk and dropped to the floor. Crouching by Dravko, he sneered at the back of his commander’s head. “Did you even bother to ask Elena why she approved such a raid?”
    Dravko definitely did not want to discuss this any further.
    “Well?”
    Dravko rolled over to face Tibor. “Yes, I did.”
    “And?”
    “She told me to stop asking questions and do as I was told.”
    “I thought so.” Tibor’s words dripped with self-righteousness. He sprang back up to his bunk and settled down, content that he had won the argument.
    As infuriating as he found Tibor’s attitude, Dravko could not fault him. Even he was bothered by the cavalier way they had been ordered into rotter territory and Elena’s curt response to his question. As far as he knew, Paul was just as mysterious with the humans.
    It had not always been this way. As mistress of the New York City coven, Elena used to be forthcoming with Dravko and the others, especially after her vampires began to fall victim to the rotters. As the living dead overran the city, Elena had evacuated her coven and headed north, holing up in the basements of abandoned buildings during day and traveling through the countryside by night. Realizing they could not survive on their own, she had sought out a human colony to join forces with. Not just any colony, however. She had wanted one whose members she felt had the intelligence and the ability to survive, yet which was small enough that if the humans turned on the vampires the coven would have a fighting chance. After weeks of searching, they had stumbled upon Paul’s group. Elena had approached the camp one night under a white flag to propose an alliance. Fortunately for her, Paul had seen the advantages of bolstering the camp’s strength by their inclusion, so he accepted the offer and made Elena his co-commander.
    At first, neither the humans nor the vampires had accepted the arrangement. The entire situation probably would have fallen apart if Paul and Elena had not struggled to make it succeed. Still, words and insults had been exchanged, followed by threats. The mutual hatred had boiled over one night when one of her vampires, Vladimir, and two humans went after each other. Elena had banished Vladimir from the camp, condemning him to almost certain death out among the rotters. Paul had sentenced his two humans to serve as blood cows for the rest of the coven for a month, giving up a pint a week to feed the vampires. After that, even though the hatred and distrust still existed between each group, everyone had internalized their feelings and refused to act on them.
    The downside was that Elena had violated the openness and trust she once shared with the coven. From what Dravko could surmise from Robson and the others, Paul had not kept them informed either. The secretive mission had severely strained the good will