Blood Cell

by Shaun Tennant

  Josh nodded. “Ten to go...” He looked down the line of tables, “...give or take.”

  The three of them shifted the second table, and as it slammed into the first table it made an even louder bang, which echoed through the mess hall, and again from the hallway on the other side. Josh couldn’t figure out why the sound was so much louder for the second table when they’d been more careful about placing it gently.

  “Gunshot!” Santos yelled. Carlos grabbed for his weapons, turning with Santos to face the darkened corridor. “I swear to God that was a gun,” said Santos. “Didn’t you see the flash?” Josh struggled to see past the tables and the two men blocking his view.

  “Yes, it was definitely a gun,” came a voice from the darkness.

  A man’s figure just barely registered in Josh’s vision when the shape fired another shot. The muzzle flash was very bright in the darkness, enough to let even Josh see the cruel, scarred face of the man behind it.

  “Leo.” said Santos.

  “But a gunshot’s better than you deserve,” Leo Jimenez taunted. Then he aimed the gun at Carlos, who was still holding up his cross as if to ward of the undead.

  “Good enough for him, though.” Leo pulled the trigger. Carlos screamed in pain and clutched his hand to his chest, tossing the stake as he did so.

  “Carlos—” Santos said, turning to catch his friend and lower him gently to the floor. Carlos looked at his wound, which was just below his shoulder, between his armpit and his clavicle.

  “It won’t kill me.”

  Leo tossed his gun toward Santos.

  “Empty. Guess I’ll have to kill you the old fashioned way.”

  Santos stood up again, and took a few steps toward Leo. Leo walked—not toward Santos, but to the staircase that headed back where they had just came from.

  “You get to choose, boss. Save your boyfriend or come and get me. Your call.” Leo laughed, and ran up the stairs. Santos dropped his large, heavy cross and gripped his stake upright like a knife. Without even a look back at Josh—or even at Carlos—he took off after Leo, disappearing into the darkness up the stairs.

  Josh slipped under the tables again, and crawled to Carlos.

  “We gotta find a first aid kit or something,” he said.

  “I don’t think I’ll be much good for moving tables right now,” grunted Carlos.

  Carlos clambered to his feet, unable to use his right arm to hold his weight while he tried to get vertical, and unwilling to release the plastic cross from his left. He screamed in rage and pain and desperation: “Jesus Christ!”

  The words echoed down the dark corridor. “Christ, rist, ist.”

  “He won’t help you now,” came another voice from the darkened cell block.

  A man with white skin, black clothes, and fresh red stains around his mouth walked into the light. He smiled with jagged teeth. He walked in long, quick, powerful strides. He put a little extra spring in one of his steps, half-skipping, and then his feet stopped touching the ground.

  There was a sound like a January wind, and the man was gone in a cloud of fog. A split-second later the fog swirled into a dense vertical cloud of solid darkness. The man was solid again, and he was twenty feet closer.

  Josh realized that he had left his stake and cross on the other side of the barricade. He scanned the floor. He could see Santos’s cross, but not Carlos’s stake. It had rolled somewhere when Carlos was shot.

  The vampire licked his lips.

  “Now,” he taunted, “which one of you gentlemen can tell me where to find that delicious woman I keep smelling?”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  The vampire. The actual, real, bona fide, holy-shit-they-didn’t-imagine-it, vampire. It was hard to choose a description for the creature that was about to eat you. But here it was—a pale man in black clothing with a mouth like a hyena. A pale man in black clothing who could fly when he wasn’t turning into fog. And who had other people’s blood staining his chin.

  Josh dove to the ground, feeling for the cross. He found it, and from his knees he held it out toward the advancing evil.

  “Stay the fuck back,” he commanded.

  “What’s your name?” asked the vampire.

  “My name is fuck you.”

  “How elegant. I think I’ve eaten more of your generation than any other simply because you are all so rude. But don’t worry; it’s not your foul mouth that got you killed. You were dead the moment I arrived. And your friend is gushing such wonderful blood.” The vampire’s nostrils flared, “You’ve been with a woman. The same woman that Officer Norris has been with. And you’ve been with her more recently.”

  “What’s he talkin’ about?” asked Carlos.

  “Nothing. There’s plenty of women out in the world. Why don’t you leave this place alone and go find some of them?”

  “My boy,” said the Vampire is his implacable European accent. “Would you honestly prefer that I kill the innocent people of the world when I could feast on the convicted criminals in here? I’m doing society a favour by directing my hunger at your lot.”

  “Like you give a shit about society. Or innocent people. You’re here for the buffet.”

  The vampire shrugged, and continued his advance.

  Josh and Carlos were backed up against the wall of tables; the vampire was only two steps away from arm’s reach. Josh’s arm was outstretched bolt-straight, as far as it could go, to hold the cross in front of the vampire. The creature leaned down toward the kneeling Farewell, bringing his face mere inches from the crucifix before he stopped his advance.

  “If you’re such a saint,” said Josh, “then a little crucifix won’t bother you.”

  “Alright. If you believe in the power of that piece of wood, then shift your weight forward and hit me with it. Burn me with the power of Christ. I’m sure God is very interested in defending the murderers and rapists who would have been stoned to death if your society followed the real bible.”

  Josh wanted so badly to throw himself forward, and bury this cross in the monster’s face. But his body didn’t move. He grimaced, straining against his own muscles, but he was so tense he couldn’t move. They say that when a person is electrocuted, often the cause of death is muscle tightening. A person grips a live wire, and the voltage seizes their body so tightly they can’t let go. That was what Josh felt, holding the cross in the Vampire’s face, but completely unable to will himself into action. His muscles were too terrified to move.

  A drop of sweat fell from Josh’s eyebrow, landing in his eyelashes. He blinked. The vampire moved so fast that Josh could hardly register it. The pale man reached around Josh’s cross to grab his forearm, and dug in with an iron grip and sharp claws. The vampire twisted Josh’s wrist away from his body, forcing the cross out of his hand and simultaneously closing the distance between them. His other hand went to Josh’s forehead, slamming his head back against the tables and turning his head ever so slightly, so the artery in Josh’s neck was exposed. The vampire’s sick smile opened, his jaw contorting open to an inhuman extreme like a boa constrictor as he leaned in toward Josh’s neck.

  Carlos, only steps away, held the smaller crucifix in his teeth while he fished the sock, still soggy with holy water, from his pocket. With his good hand, he stuck the sock in between Josh’s neck and the creature’s open maw. The vampire’s mouth found the sock, and Carlos crooked his fingers to force the wet fabric over the creature’s teeth and inside its mouth.

  “Ahhhgg!” he howled in pain. The vampire bit down on Carlos’ fingers, but the pain of the holy water was too much, so he recoiled a few steps back. The vampire spat the steaming piece of cloth into his hand, and tossed it away like a hot potato.

  “Get him!” screamed Carlos.

  Josh hesitated, but only for a moment. The pain had jolted him into action, and he found the will to move again. He charged the reeling vampire and tackled it hard. The vampire was solid with muscle, which almost surprised Josh. After seeing the tricks with the
fog, the idea that this thing had a skeleton was hard to comprehend. He tumbled to the floor on top of the creature, the black cape sweeping out around them. Josh threw punches at the vampire, hitting it in the face, hurting his hand.

  Josh had never actually won a fight before.

  He switched tactics, throwing downward hammer-punches instead of straight-on fists. The vampire was dazed for a few seconds, but then the creature hissed and swung both of its hands at Josh, with sharp-edged fingers sweeping at his face. Josh pulled up and away, but one of the vampire’s claws caught his chin, cutting a line of blood. Josh felt the heat of blood on his chin. The vampire, spurred on by the sight and smell of fresh blood, reached up again, this time to grab and hold Josh.

  His fingers grabbed Josh by the throat, and then he felt even more heat, as if the vampire’s hand was burning hot. The vampire screamed and thrashed Josh to the ground. It held out its hand and snarled. The vampire’s palm and fingers were bright red, just as its lips and chin were burned.

  “Holy water,” it hissed. “You anointed your own throat.”

  “You want to take a bite now?”

  “I want to rip your lungs out.” The vampire crawled toward Josh. He was so comfortable on all fours, he might have been a dog. Josh rolled to the side, toward Carlos, and the vampire missed as it dove for him. Carlos threw himself over Josh, leading with the plastic crucifix. He pressed the cross against the vampire’s cheek, searing the flesh like a branding iron. The vampire screamed in rage and pain and punched Carlos hard in the jaw. Carlos’ head snapped to the side and he went limp. The cross fell from his hand. Josh had to scurry to get out from under Carlos’ unconscious body. While was scrambling, the vampire rose to his feet and stomped the plastic cross into pieces.

  The vampire breathed in short, rasping breaths, almost growling on each exhale. Josh looked it in the eyes. The face that had been porcelain white moments earlier was now badly burned. The pale man’s right cheek was engraved with a thick black X where the cross had been. His lips and chin were red and blistering from the holy water. The skin actually looked like his face had been held over a flame where the holy water had touched him. His black hair, which was so perfect when the creature emerged from the fog, was now dishevelled and hanging over his forehead. But his eyes were still the same. They were cold, grey, and almost lit from behind. When he looked into Josh’s eyes, Josh felt as if he was being invaded. His spine went cold and he instinctively shrugged his shoulders higher.

  The vampire opened its mouth wide, baring teeth, and howled at Josh, like an attack dog behind a chain-link fence. Then it dove at Josh, launching itself with its legs, leading with its claws, mouth open. Ready to tear Josh to pieces. Josh dove to the side and the vampire hit the wall of tables, falling loudly to the ground. Josh slipped into the space between two tables and started to crawl between them, desperate to get to the other side. To save himself. To find his cross and wooden stake.

  The vampire grabbed his ankle and dragged him backward.

  “No!” Josh yelled, grasping for the edge of the table, for anything to grab.

  Then the vampire let go. It growled once more, and disappeared. Josh took a few rasping breaths, and crawled back out the way he’d came, wondering what could have possibly driven the vampire away.

  He thought that maybe Santos had come back for them. No such luck.

  When Josh pulled out from under the table wall, he saw a man standing over Carlos’s prone body. The man wore a guard’s uniform, and held Carlos’s pew-leg stake in his hand. He kicked Carlos’s leg like a used car’s tire.

  “Is this guy dead?” asked John Norris.

  In the minutes after, Josh propped up Carlos’s head and waited for his ally to wake up.

  “All I had to do was show him this stake and he ran away,” said Norris. “I guess that means he really is a vampire, right?”

  Josh nodded. “Yeah.”

  “I’ll be goddamned.”

  Carlos woke up after a few minutes. He was dazed and obviously had a concussion, but he was awake. While Carlos struggled to stay awake, Josh explained their escape plan.

  “So all we gotta do is move these tables and we’re good to get out of here?” Norris asked.

  “Yeah, said Josh, “but there’s something else. You’re Norris, right?”

  Norris nodded.

  “You got a girlfriend right? The warden’s girl? Sally?’

  “What the hell do you think you know?”

  “I’m just saying, I was with her today.”

  “With her?’

  “Tonight. Today. In here. Sally is in here with us. I just thought you’d want to know.”`

  Carlos shook off the cobwebs. “So when that thing said he could smell a woman...”

  Norris nodded, chewing on his lower lip. “Where?”

  “I locked her in solitary. Where she’d be safe from the riot.”

  “But not from the vampire. Fuck!”

  Josh nodded solemnly. “Thought you should know. If he can smell her, he can find her. I think maybe we should go back for her, before the vampire finds her.”

  “Or before there are any more of them,” Norris said. Josh and Carlos shared a look.

  “Any more of what?” Carlos asked.

  “You know, vampires. Isn’t that how it works? If they bite you, you turn into one?”

  *****

  Upstairs, Santos Vega tracked Leo to the classroom that was usually used for high school equivalency. Santos stepped up to the doorway. There was no emergency light in the classroom, so the chamber was black as a coal mine.

  “Why you hiding, tough guy?” Santos called. “I thought you wanted a fight? Or did you realize that you can’t take me?”

  Santos stepped into the classroom, and moved a few steps away from the light of the hallway. “I said it the moment you got here and I’m saying it now: Leo Jimenez is a dead man.”

  Leo jumped out behind Santos, slapping the wooden stake from his hand. The stake rolled into the darkness. Santos turned, fists raised. Leo smiled at him. He always smiled when he killed someone. As Leo’s lips curled back, they revealed a mouth full of sharp, spiked teeth. Leo’s eyes were no longer brown, but dull silver. He sized up Santos like a pit bull looks at a porterhouse.

  “Actually,” Leo snarled, “I died a few hours ago.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Josh Farewell squeezed his way through the narrow space between the upright tables once again. Behind him, John Norris stood watch over both Josh and the ailing Carlos. Josh pulled himself through the opening, and raised himself halfway upright, sitting on his heels. From this position—vigilant, ready to react—Josh scanned the darkness beyond. The mess hall. It was empty. There had been dozens of corpses before, but they were gone now.

  Did they get up and walk away?

  Oh shit. Did they?

  Impossible. If there were more than a single vampire here, Josh would know it. They’d have been attacked. But they hadn’t been. There was only one vampire, and it was stalking them from somewhere in the shadows.

  Josh spotted what he was looking for, and crawled toward his prizes. Picking up the stake and the cross in his hands, he squeezed them tight. Totems. Holy things that would ward off the undead. For the first time in his life, a religious object gave him hope. It made him feel safer.

  “I’m coming back,” he told Norris.

  Having gathered his weapons, Josh slid his head back under the tables and started the crawl again. This position left him vulnerable, but Norris had saved him once already, and Josh was willing to trust that Norris could keep watch for the five seconds or so it took to crawl under the barricade. He made it through unharmed. As he emerged from under the table, he spotted Santos’s weaponry lying on the floor—another stake and the heavy wooden cross.

  “Now let’s go get Sally and get out of here,” said Norris.

  “First we need a first aid kit,” Josh said. “Carlos has a bullet in his chest and a concussion.”
/>   “Bleeding stopped,” said Carlos. “I’ll live.”

  Josh handed Carlos the smaller wooden cross, which was lighter than the one Carlos had held before. “You’ve only got one arm. We’ll keep the stakes, you use this.”

  “Only needed one arm to save your ass,” Carlos said as he took the cross.

  Norris showed them to a first aid kit in the guards’ station at the edge of the cell block. Josh poured some alcohol into Carlos’s entry wound, and found that there was no matching wound on his back.

  “Bullet’s still in you.”

  “I noticed.”

  Josh fashioned a sling out of a roll of heavy gauze, and hooked it over Carlos’s bad arm. The last step was to give him a couple of Tylenols to help with the pain.

  “If you girls are done playing doctor,” Said an impatient Norris, “I’m trying to find a girl.”

  “Straight ahead,” said Josh, pointing through the gloomy cellblock. “She’s thataway.”

  The three of them—the new meat, the gangbanger, and the hardened guard, all watched each others’ backs as they advanced through the block.

  Norris saw the corpses hanging upright in the cells.

  “Jesus!” he yelped, raising his stake.

  “Settle down,” said Carlos, “They’re dead.”

  Carlos hadn’t noticed the corpse’s hands, which now held the bars tightly. He hadn’t noticed the first corpse untie itself from the bedsheet that held it up, or the second corpse open its eyes to watch them pass.

  They walked into the darkness, deeper and deeper, none of them knowing that every single cell held a newly born vampire, hungry for his first meal.

  *****

  Sally was surprised how much comfort she found in the company of Terminal Thomas. Williams was a nice guy and she had known him for a year, but he didn’t seem like much defence against a monster. But Thomas was as big as a house, and the job he’d done tearing open her cell was damn fine demonstration of his butt-kicking ability.

  They had left ad seg through the guards’ corridor, heading to the entrance at the far end. When Sally had come through in the other direction, with Josh, this corridor was empty and safe. Now, every door had been opened and the exit at the far end was barricaded off with a complex network of mess hall tables tied together with weight-machine cables. Sally didn’t know that this was the same spot where the monster had first entered, in the form of a fog that enshrouded Eddie Angel.