by Brant, Jason
“The kid saved us that night. Took us to a safe house his people had set up a few blocks away. The—” Lance cut himself off, realizing it would take him an hour to tell her everything that had happened. “He came with us to find the girl. Looks like he did.”
“What have we gotten ourselves into?” Cass asked. “Seems like we stepped into the middle of a war between groups of people we don’t even know.”
“You don’t know the half of it.” Lance noticed Cass’ gun resting against the tailgate, reached over for it, and handed it to her. He held her gaze. “We’re going to get through this.”
“Damn right we are.” Cass took the gun. Checked the mag. “And then it’s payback time.”
The large, annoyingly good-looking man Cass had arrived with stuck his head into the window beside them. “I’ve got a lot of ammo in my bag. How much do you need?”
“As many as you can give us,” Cass said. “But wait until we need them. I don’t want to juggle a ton while Megan is throwing us around back here.”
The man gave her a nod before turning back to the cabin.
“He helped us escape,” Cass said. “I’ll tell you about it later.”
Eifort yelled something.
Lance slid over to the window, cocking an ear into the opening. “What?”
“We’re coming up on the highway with the nest beside it. Could be a lot of Vladdies up here. Get ready.” Eifort slowed the truck, cutting the wind noise in half for Lance.
“You hanging in there, kid?” he asked.
Brandon gave him a bloody thumbs-up. “Better every minute.”
“What about you, Greg? Still have all your body parts?”
Greg turned toward him, his eyes as gloomy and watery as they had been all day. “I’m fine.”
Lance reached through the window, then gave his shoulder a squeeze. When he felt Cass touch his back, he angled toward her.
“Where’s Adam?” she asked. When she saw the pall that fell across his face, she closed her eyes and hung her head, chin resting against her chest. “Poor Lilith.”
“Yeah,” was all Lance could manage to get out. His chest felt tight as he replayed what Adam’s last few hours had been like.
The truck slowed even more before rounding a bend and accelerating up a ramp toward the highway. Shadows from the trees seemed to stretch on forever. Their darkness had deepened, and the night was reborn.
Their time had almost run out.
Eifort switched the headlights on and used the high beams, illuminating a wide swath of the road before them. Nothing moved along the ramp as they gained speed around a bend and entered the highway. The headlights fell upon the cleared lane and the abandoned vehicles flanking it on either side. There were more cars than they’d seen down the highway because they were closer to civilization here. A mile or two down the road, Lance figured it would turn into a wide-open space they could really haul ass on.
Lance peered over the top of the truck, searching for the taillights of the vehicle with Dragon in it, but didn’t spot anything ahead. He hoped whoever was driving it had managed to find the highway. There were sporadic signs directing commuters here, but in the rush of escaping the Vladdies and the other camp, he hoped they hadn’t missed them.
The wind shear forced Lance to duck again. He sat beside Cass, watching over the edge of the truck for movement along the side of the road. At first, they didn’t spot anything, but after a mile or two, he sighted a pack of Vladdies sprinting along the overgrown shoulder.
Eifort drove by the beasts as they bounded into the lane, howling in fury.
In the distance, Lance saw the great spire stretching out of the field. Most of its details were lost in the darkness descending upon it, but Lance could still see hundreds, maybe thousands, of vampires exiting the structure.
Cass recoiled at the sight of it. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Yeah.” Lance watched the Vladdies storming from their nest, heading out for food or destruction or whatever drove the damned things anymore.
Were they heading for King’s place?
Was the nest even close enough for them to get to his weird little cult?
Did they want another sacrifice or was King already dead, killed for his failure to secure a human for them? Lance hoped that piece of shit was working his way through the digestive system of one of the beasts. That or they’d turned him into one of their own. A fitting end for a traitorous leech like Magnus King.
“There are so many,” Cass said in awe as she watched the vampires spread out over the field.
Lance could barely hear her over the wind. She stared at the spire in fear, her fingers gripping her rifle so tightly her hands blanched. Though Lance had already seen the nest, the sight of it again tightened his chest. Surviving against such numbers felt impossible.
Dozens of shrieks came from ahead of them.
Cass turned to the front of the truck, risking a look over the top.
Lance followed suit. “That’s not good.”
Rows of Vladdies stretched across the highway ahead, two or three deep, at least ten across. They stood on all fours, their protective pelts shed from their massive shoulders. They no longer feared the failing light. Several reared up on their legs and bellowed. Others slammed their meaty fists on the concrete or against the cars around them.
More climbed the bank beside the highway and crossed the shoulder, combining with the ranks blocking the road. Soon, there would be so many an eighteen-wheeler couldn’t plow through them.
Lance slammed his hand on the roof. “Slow down!”
Eifort obliged, easing off the gas. She hollered out her window, “What now?”
“We’re going to unload on those damn things,” Lance said. “And when we’re reloading, you’re going to drive us over the shoulder to the other side of the highway.”
“Are you nuts?”
Lance inspected the median between them with a frown. The grass between the two lanes on either side stood at least four feet high, though it was hard to tell just how tall the overgrowth was because the blades and stalks had bent from their own weight. The ground dipped between the separated lanes, the shadows making it impossible to see if anything was down there.
They would have to drive into the brush blind. Hope there weren’t any wrecked cars or abandoned motorcycles hiding in the grass.
Or more groups of Vladdies.
“We can’t drive through them,” Lance said. “And we don’t have time to run around looking for a way through the back roads. It’ll be dark before we get halfway to Baltimore.”
“And if we get a flat in the median?” Eifort asked.
Lance didn’t respond.
If they suffered a flat, they were all dead.
“Do it.” Cass raised her rifle with a grimace, her lacerated shoulder obviously bothering her. “The faster we get out of here, the faster we see our babies.”
“Cross your fingers and toes,” Eifort hollered.
Lance aimed across the roof, asked Cass, “Ready?”
“Bet I can drop more of them than you.”
“Prepare to be embarrassed.”
They lit the vampires up.
43
Cass didn’t have to aim too meticulously to drop the Vladdies where they stood. They were lined up nearly shoulder to shoulder and several beasts deep. It was akin to shooting fish in a barrel.
Except these fish fought back.
When the first half dozen fell to the road, bleating and bleeding, the others sprang forward in unison. They bellowed and bounded, teeth gnashing and knuckles pounding the pavement.
Lance squeezed off round after round. His features were rigid in stony concentration. Each blast of his rifle sent another vampire toppling to the ground atop the mass of bloody bodies and working limbs. The beasts behind them vaulted the fallen, sometimes trampling them, as they raced toward the oncoming truck.
“Ammo,” Cass yelled after her rifle ran dry. She dropped the empt
y mag in the bed, reached into the window without looking, and then wiggled her fingers. Metal slammed into her palm, and she resumed firing within seconds.
More Vladdies poured onto the highway, refilling their ranks. Another group appeared off to the right, attacking their prey from the side. Behind them, the spire spewed ever more of the infected, providing a seemingly unending army. Angling toward the new pack, Cass let them have it.
“This isn’t working!” Lance dropped to a knee to reload. “Time to get us out of here!”
Megan didn’t need to be told twice.
The truck lurched left, Cass nearly toppling over the side as Megan aimed them toward the median. Lance caught his wife’s arm, steadying her until she rebalanced. Seeing the drop into the overgrowth ahead, Cass knelt behind the cabin and braced herself beside Lance.
They plunged into the tall grass at an insane speed.
The initial drop-off nearly lifted Lance and Cass from their feet.
Cass held on for dear life as grass and weeds brushed past the sides of the truck, swatting at them. The Vladdies shrieked in response as their evening feast made a break for it. They followed them into the median.
Lance glanced behind them and pointed at the beasts plowing through the grass, leaving trails of bent stalks in their wake. His jaw set as he watched how many were coming. The expression on his face resembled how Cass felt—they were in trouble.
If they hit anything at all, even a small divot that could slow them down, the vampires would be on them. Cass had feared a flat, but now that the Vladdies bore down on them, she realized it would take much less than that to end their journey.
Taking a chance, she released her grip on the truck and tried to aim at their pursuers. The uneven ground jounced the truck, making an accurate shot all but impossible. She popped off a few rounds anyway, hoping to get lucky.
A bullet punched through the tailgate.
Two others shot into the sky.
She stopped before she accidently plugged herself.
The truck vaulted up the incline, angled to the other side of the highway, and went airborne.
Their tires spun uselessly in the air.
Lance and Cass lifted off the bed, their feet kicking, hands barely hanging on to keep them from flying free of the truck.
A hard landing sent them crashing into the rear window, Lance’s shoulder splintering the glass. Megan cut the wheel, directing them between two burned-out, overturned cars. Lance finally lost his grip and slammed into the side wall, the rifle falling from his other hand. It flitted through the air before disappearing over the tailgate.
“Damn!” Lance struggled to sit up. “I lost the gun.”
“Get Bill’s!” Cass waited until Megan straightened them out, then started shooting at the Vladdies trailing them again.
The infected burst from the overgrowth and chased after them, leaping over wrecked cars with a grace that beasts of their size shouldn’t possess. Most of Cass’ shots missed as the racing Vladdies proved to be difficult targets.
Lance got to his feet, stumbled to the rear window, barked, “I need a gun!”
“Hang on,” Bill shouted. “I’ve got—watch out!”
Cass spun around in time to see a Vladdie jump off the hood of a large van that read JD’s Contracting. It soared over the side of the truck and crashed into Lance, toppling them both to the floor with a thud that shook the entire vehicle.
The Vladdie landed on top of her husband, scrambling to get hold of him.
Cass aimed at its head.
She snarled.
Pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
Her mouth fell open.
Lance threw his hands into the chest of the Vladdie, trying to shove it off him. He barely moved it, the muscle-bound monster too heavy and strong for him to budge.
It lowered its weight, sitting on his thighs and digging its claws into his upper arms. The hardened, elongated nails plunged into Lance’s flesh. He grunted and bucked with his hips, but failed to dislodge the vampire once again.
Flaps of dead animal flesh sloughed off the beast as it struggled with Lance. Fur fell to the bed, exposing its nearly translucent skin. Its stench invaded Cass’ nostrils, the pungent stink overwhelming her olfactory system.
Its mouth gnashed at Lance’s face, missing his cheek by millimeters as he twisted his head away at the last second. Spittle dribbled from elongated, razor-sharp teeth, splattering Lance’s face and neck.
Cass stepped closer and spun the rifle in her hands, grabbing hold of the hot barrel. She swung in a chopping motion as hard as she could, striking the vampire in the back. The reverberation from the blow rippled through her arms, numbing her hands.
The beast’s head cut toward her, and it howled in rage.
But it didn’t release its grip.
It turned back to Lance and opened its maw to take a chunk out of his face.
Cass struck it again, this time in the back of the head.
The stock thudded off its thick skull, the sound like a major leaguer cracking a homerun over the fence. The blow broke the Vladdie’s skin, black ichor flowing from a three-inch gash on the back of its head.
It finally released its grip on one of Lance’s arms to swing at Cass. It caught her in the stomach with the back of its forearm. All the air in her lungs burst out as she tumbled backward, the small of her back catching the lip of the truck bed, sending fresh hell pulsating through her body.
Stabbing pain attacked her hips and legs, her body weight suddenly too much to bear. She collapsed to her ass, legs refusing to cooperate. Sunbursts dotting her vision, she struggled to get in a sip of air as her diaphragm spasmed.
Lance threw a sad excuse for a punch at the Vladdie, catching it in the neck. If the beast even felt the blow, it didn’t react to it. Though it remained atop Lance, its horror-show face pointed at Cass. It loosed a shriek that jabbed needles through her ears and head.
Spittle flew to the floor in front of Cass.
Blood dribbled from its lacerated head, pattering Lance’s shirt.
More calls of the damned answered its siren song from either side of the truck.
They were closing in.
Cass finally managed to suck in a breath.
She roared back at the vampire with every ounce of strength she had.
It swung at her once more, its claws swiping through the air inches from her face. Lance bucked his hips again, but the weight of the monster was too much, even with its attention elsewhere. His squirming renewed its interest in him.
Cass’s legs didn’t want to respond as she tried to get her feet under her.
Something in her back didn’t feel right, almost like two bones grinding together. The pain in her legs and hips reached almost unbearable levels.
The Vladdie raised a clawed hand in the air above Lance.
“No,” Cass screamed as she reached out, though she was too far away to stop it from tearing her husband’s throat out.
A pistol cracked from the window.
The flesh on the Vladdie’s back rippled from the impact of a bullet tearing through skin and muscle. It hissed in pain and surprise, its hand dropping down to the bed to keep it from toppling off Lance. Blood flowed from the wound, streams coursing down its back and legs.
Cass stared at the window, saw Bill’s hand extended out of it, a pistol aimed at the vampire. “Kill it!”
As Bill pulled the trigger again, Megan shouted something unintelligible from the front and jerked the wheel hard to the left. Cass slid along the floor down to the tailgate, bumping her head off the metal.
Bill’s hand flew sideways from the force of the turn. The gun barked, shooting off a round less than a foot over Cass’ head. She ducked as far as she could, shouting for Bill to stop firing.
The Vladdie bellowed, but held its position atop Lance.
Another infected leapt onto the driver’s side of the truck, its claws scraping along the door and roof as it searched
for purchase. Its massive head slammed into the window beside Bill, smashing through the glass.
Bill’s hand disappeared from the rear window as he spun around, shooting at the beast inches away from him.
Cass looked back to the Vladdie atop Lance. It had regained its balance, but its movements were sluggish. Blood flowed from its wounds unabated, pooling under it and Lance.
With a grunt of pain and exertion, Cass reached up and grabbed the top of the tailgate, pulling herself to a seated position. Something hard pressed against something soft in her lower back. Her other hand brushed against an object by her hip.
She glanced down.
Saw the axe.
Grabbed it.
Jammed the top of the blade against the floor, using the tool to push herself to her feet. Her left leg dragged more than stepped as she moved closer to the Vladdie. Sweat and blood slicked her hands as she squeezed the handle of the axe.
The vampire released Lance’s other arm as it straightened its back out. It shrieked again, though its weakened state lessened the power of its cry. Both of its hands splayed open, bloody claws angling at Lance.
“Get off my man!” Cass reared the axe back over her shoulder like a lumberjack.
The Vladdie’s head twitched at the sound of her voice.
Cass swung the axe with every ounce of strength that remained in her damaged body. The blade caught the vampire in the center of its face, just beneath the empty eye sockets. It sliced through flesh and bone, embedding six inches deep in skull.
Its mouth fell slack, droll spilling from its lower jaw.
Spasms seized its muscles.
Fresh blood spilled from the gaping wound, dribbling down beside Lance’s face. He gagged and shifted away from it, trying to prevent any from getting into his mouth or eyes.
The vampire fell off him, landing on its back, the axe handle ripping from Cass’ grip. Another spasm rippled through its body, then it exhaled, its thick chest falling for the last time, and died.
The axe handle stuck into the air, waving slightly from the breeze.
Bill emptied his pistol into the chest of the Vladdie hanging onto the side of the truck. Flashes in the cab illuminated its distorted face with each blast. The Vladdie’s claws screeched against the metal of the roof as it slid down the side of the truck and disappeared. The vehicle jounced as the back tire ran over an arm or a leg of the dying beast.
