by Philip Henry
Kaaliz laughed. ‘Eenie meanie minie mo…’ He started spinning the Che’al. It was totally confused by the rotating world. It grunted in primal fear. ‘Catch a Che’al by the toes,’ Kaaliz continued. He increased his speed. There was now just a five-foot blur moving around Kaaliz’s waist, like the rings of Saturn. The Che’al’s cries became more panicked. ‘If it screams, let it go.’ Kaaliz released his grip on the cowboy boots and the Che’al shot across the room and smashed head-first into a brick wall. It fell to the ground. Blood leaked from its skull. It wasn’t moving. Kaaliz looked at it with contempt. ‘Eenie meanie minie mo,’ he concluded.
Kaaliz walked over and grabbed it by the heavily embroidered collar. He could sense it was still breathing. Sin had said these things would be hard to kill. Kaaliz dragged it across the floor. He didn’t want to have to worry about this thing attacking him while he slept. He took it to the Raiders room. It was the only room that was air-locked with a thick steel door. He guessed it wouldn’t be able to escape. He spun the circular release on the door then opened the latch. Like a bank vault, the door slowly swung open with a sigh as air rushed in.
Kaaliz threw the Che’al inside and heard it make a faint groan as it hit he floor. He looked around and could hear Sin’s voice in his head. He closed his eyes.
‘Wow, look at this place. It must be three or four hundred yards long. I’ll bet it runs the whole length of the reservoir above.’
His eyes still closed. ‘It’s just a big, empty room, Sin.’
‘No way, baby. This is no ordinary room. Look at these sheets scattered on the floor. Everything’s blacked-out but the pro-nouns. This is where the army stored all their secret stuff I’ll bet. This is their Raiders room.’
Whispered tenderly. ‘Their what?’
‘At the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, the place where they store the ark. This is the British equivalent. Boy, I’d have liked to have a rummage around here when this place was full. I wonder where they moved everything to.’
‘I daresay you could find out with your computer.’
‘I daresay I could.’ They kiss. ‘There’ll be time for everything later.’ She rubs the crotch of his trousers. ‘Except this.’ She smiles. ‘This needs delivered immediately.’ They drop to the floor of the Raiders room and give themselves completely to one another.
The Che’al grunts, snapping Kaaliz from his reverie. He considers killing it just for disturbing him, but refrains. He feels his cheek and finds a tear. He scoops it off with his middle finger and holds it before him. He curls his fingers and the tear runs into his palm. He closes his fist tightly around it. He pushes the rage deep into his stomach.
He gives the stirring Che’al one more look before leaving and locking the door behind him.
He goes into the Overnight Room and lies on the bottom bunk. He tries to sleep but cannot. He feels exposed. So much space. Ten years buried with a quarter-of-an-inch’s wiggle room will make you agoraphobic apparently. He goes to the filing cabinet. He rips out the drawers, lies on the floor and covers himself with the metal shell. He feels safe now and sleep finds him quickly.
Melanie arrived for work that morning and found yellow police tape cordoning off the Bishop’s Gate. Her key wouldn’t work in the lock. She got back in her car and drove around to the Lion’s Gate entrance. It was open. Her mouth dropped in disbelief. Vans and lorries were driving up towards Mussenden Temple and delivering what looked like building supplies. There were workmen. She ran towards the temple.
‘Hey! Who’s in charge here?’
Dave walked over and shook her hand. He saw her National Trust fleece and knew the same story he had given the early morning dog-walkers wasn’t going to work here. ‘Hi there. My name’s Dave and you are?’
‘Melanie. What the hell are you doing here?’
Dave looked shocked. ‘What, you didn’t get the memo?’
‘What memo?’
One of the workmen ran over to them. ‘Hey, Dave, we canny get that back wunduh oot. Fuckin’ things built right on the edge. There’s nay way to get behin it.’
Dave looked at Melanie. ‘Any idea how they got the window fitted in the first place?’
‘The cliff edge used to be a hundred yards away; it’s erosion over the years that brought it right to the back of the temple. The Trust had it underpinned so the temple wouldn’t fall off the cliff.’
Dave nodded and smiled to Melanie. ‘Right. Well. You learn something new every day.’ He turned to his workman and put his hand to his mouth to shield it from Melanie. ‘Just smash it and put the other one in from the inside.’ The workman ran off.
Melanie grabbed Dave’s arm. ‘What did you just tell him to do?’
‘Look, why don’t you take the day off?’
‘I am not moving from here until I make damn sure you have permission to be doing this.’
‘OK, OK.’ Dave put his hands up and took a deep breath. ‘You’re right. We don’t have permission to be doing this.’
A look of total terror crossed Melanie’s face. ‘Are you insane? That’s a Grade 1 listed building! Stop them, stop them right now.’ Melanie started to run towards the temple but Dave stopped her.
‘Listen, haven’t you ever wondered what those spherical alcoves are for? We’ve found Shanahan’s original plans for the temple and we’re just altering it to his specifications.’
She considered this. ‘That sounds like a great idea, but you have to apply for permission. You can’t just barge in here one day with a cement mixer.’ She shook herself free of his grasp and started towards the temple again.
Dave shook his head. He was hoping it wouldn’t come to this. ‘I don’t suppose you know anything about the vampire problem in this area,’ he shouted after her.
She stopped, her back to him. Dave prepared his best I-know-you’re-not-going-to-believe-this-but wince. She turned to him. Her face was serious.
She walked back to him and looked him square in the eyes. ‘Go on. I’m listening.’
Sarah got out of the car and stretched. It had been a long night. Lynda beeped the horn as she reversed and drove off down the lane. Sarah unlocked the door and stepped inside. Tom was standing beside a roaring fire.
‘What are you doing here?’ she said with mock surprise.
‘I wanted to make sure you were OK.’
‘You could have called,’ she said coyly.
‘I didn’t want you to be alone. How’s Rek?’
‘Lynda and I took him to A&E. They patched him up then he skipped out on us.’
‘He just left without saying a word?’
‘Lynda thinks he might have gone back to Chloe’s but I doubt it. He’s out for revenge, but he can’t beat Kaaliz and he knows it. I don’t know what he thinks he’s doing. I wish Amanda were back. She’d know how to find him, and knock some sense into him when she did.’
‘He should be safe in daylight,’ Tom offered. Sarah shrugged.
She closed the door and walked over to him. She gently touched the fresh cuts on his face. ‘You’ve been fighting.’
‘Yeah, where was that spider-sense of yours that lets you know I’m in trouble?’
‘There’s so much going on right now, Tom. I feel like I’m being pulled a dozen different ways.’ She hung her head, exhausted.
‘Hey, I was only joking. Anyway, I can handle myself. There are four dead vampires who’ll testify to that.’
‘Four, eh? That’s pretty good going, slick.’
‘Got a free Harley out of it, too.’
She looked him in the eyes. She whispered. ‘Let’s go to bed, Tom.’
He took a few seconds before replying, ‘Shit, they weren’t joking about Harleys being babe-magnets, were they?’
She smiled. ‘It’s not the Harley… well, not completely.’ Tom smiled. Sarah looked at him seriously. ‘I love you, Tom. I always have.’
‘I’ve always loved you, too.’
Sarah took his hand and they walked to the bedroom.
>
Seven minutes later…
‘We should do it again.’
‘Yeah, I think I’ll be able to last longer next time,’ Tom said. ‘It’s just, you’re my… well, you know.’
‘You’re mine, too.’
‘We don’t have to do it again,’ Tom said.
‘Oh, listen, I can do it better than that, too. I’ve seen videos.’
‘No, I don’t mean I don’t want to do it again. I’m just saying…’ He turned to her and looked in her eyes. ‘This isn’t our only chance. We’re not going to die tonight.’
Tears welled in Sarah’s eyes.
‘We’re not, Sarah. I won’t lose you. And if I have to save the world to hold onto you, then that’s what I’ll do.’
Sarah smiled and ducked under the duvet.
After a few seconds Tom said, ‘Wow, you have seen videos.’
Sarah giggled. Tom ducked under the duvet with her.
Nicholl slept late the next day. Probably because she had been too wired to sleep most of the night and ended up watching Heathers and Amelie from her DVD collection. When she did finally go to bed she didn’t sleep immediately. She lay there, planning. Trying to cover all the angles of how this escape was going to work. It must have been sometime after dawn when she finally fell asleep.
She awoke just after midday. Dinner at one left her plenty of time for a shower and to try to work out what she was going to say to them all. She had gauged from the people she had met last night that no-one was happy here, but there’s a hell of a difference between not liking a place and being willing to die for the chance to leave it. It only took one person to chicken out and the whole plan would be compromised. One person too scared to leave, and at the same time not wanting to be left on the island alone, would sound the alarm and bring extra security from HQ. It had to be all of them.
12:51
Nicholl looked out her window. Donna had set up tables in front of her house. People were milling around with drinks in their hands. Nicholl left her domicile and walked over to the assembled crowd. The closer she got the stronger the smell of a home-made roast dinner with all the trimmings got. She smiled and nodded to a few familiar faces, shook hands with a few more that hadn’t waited up for her last night, and edged inside Donna’s domicile.
Joshua ran over to her. ‘Ah, here’s the lady of the hour. Now I thought I’d introduce you before dinner and then maybe you could say a few words?’ He raised his eyebrows hopefully.
‘Is this everyone?’
Joshua did a quick look around. ‘Yes, I think everyone’s here.’
‘I’ll speak to them now if you don’t mind. Can you bring everyone inside?’
‘In here? It’ll be a bit cramped. We have tables outside, the weather looks like it’s…’
‘Please, Joshua. Bring them all in.’
Joshua looked concerned but went outside. He shepherded everyone in and Nicholl closed the door. She looked at the expectant faces before her. They were all standing shoulder to shoulder in the small room. Donna stepped from the kitchen and looked at Nicholl, too.
She took a deep breath and said, ‘The Endtime is here.’ The facial expressions of six or eight of the assembled people turned to stone. ‘I see some of you know what that means. For the rest of you: it means the final battle. It’s tonight.’ A gasp went through the crowd. ‘Humans versus vampires. And only one side is walking away from it. If we fail tonight, vampires take over the world and we become nothing but their unhappy meals.’ She let it sink in for a few moments. She looked around the crowd and couldn’t see Eileen. She wasn’t there.
‘So what do you want us to do about it? We’re locked up,’ someone shouted from the crowd.
‘You all worked for the Ministry. You all know more about vampires than anyone else I could recruit.’
‘Recruit?’ the same man shouted.
‘I didn’t get thrown in here by accident. I came here because I need soldiers. I need you all. I can get you off this island, but the price of your freedom is your service in the battle tonight.’
‘And if we refuse?’ a different man asked.
‘Then you take your chances. Maybe we triumph tonight without you, maybe we don’t. Best case scenario; we win and you spend the rest of your life here, worst case, we lose and vampires find this island eventually and kill you all.’
‘What’s the Ministry doing?’ A woman.
Nicholl hung her head. ‘Nothing. The ministry’s policy on prophecies is…’
‘They don’t believe them until after they happen.’ Someone finished for her.
The crowd were looking at each other in a stunned silence.
‘You can stay here, prisoners,’ Nicholl said. ‘Or you can do what you all chose to do with your lives when you joined the Ministry. Fight vampires. Tonight we go into battle and with your help we’ll be victorious, and no-one ever needs to lose a loved one to a vampire ever again. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s worth dying for.’
Joshua stepped forward and faced Nicholl. Tears were streaming down his face. ‘You can really get us all off this island?’
Nicholl took him by the shoulders and held him tightly. ‘I can, Joshua. Are you with me?’
‘You’re goddamn right I am,’ he whispered. Joshua turned to the crowd and wiped his cheeks. ‘Anyone want to stay here?’ Everyone looked at each other but no-one spoke up or raised their hand. Joshua nodded, smiling. ‘I’m proud of you all.’ He turned back to Nicholl. ‘We’re all with you.’
They all looked at her, awaiting orders. ‘OK. Everyone act normally. I suggest we all eat this beautiful meal, then discreetly go back to our domiciles. Pack anything you want to take with you – only what you can carry. We’re going to have to move very fast, so be prepared.’
Everyone stood still, hanging on her every word. Donna clapped her hands together and everyone turned. ‘OK, you heard her. Let’s get something to eat.’
The crowd started to move slowly towards Donna’s serving table.
Nicholl patted Joshua on the shoulder and said, ‘I’ll be back in a minute.’
Joshua was about to speak, but she ran out.
Nicholl ran across the communal circle to number twelve and knocked the door. ‘Eileen! Come on, wake up!’ She banged the door again. ‘Eileen, come on. I have to talk to you.’
Nicholl tried the doorknob and found the door unlocked. She opened the door and stepped inside. Eileen was walking towards the door with her arm extended for the doorknob when Nicholl entered. The sunlight rushed in and scorched Eileen’s exposed arm. She jumped back into the far corner of the room, holding her smouldering forearm. Nicholl looked at the girl cowering in the darkened corner.
‘Holy shit,’ Nicholl said quietly.
They sat opposite each other in Eileen’s darkened kitchen, each holding a cup of coffee. ‘I worked in Research and Development. We had brought a vampire up from level six to run some tests. We all thought it was sedated, but it was just playing possum. We were scientists, we couldn’t fight it. It killed my two colleagues and tried to use me as a hostage to get out. When the agents showed up there was a lot of posturing and macho banter, but despite all his tough talk the vamp realised they weren’t ever going to let him out. The threat of killing me carried no weight with the agents. They only see the big picture.’ She smiled. ‘Look who I’m telling. It’s in the small print in all our contracts you know, if that situation arises, you agree to being killed. Did you know that?’
Nicholl shook her head. ‘There seems to be a lot of shit in the small print that no-one ever reads.’
‘So the vamp knows he’s beaten, but just as a final “fuck you” to the Ministry, he rips open his wrist and shoves it in my mouth.’ She looked down into her coffee. ‘Next thing I remember is waking up on the wrong side of the plexi-glass.’
‘Why send you here though? Why don’t you…?’
‘Why don’t I kill all these nice people?’
Nicholl nodded.<
br />
‘One of the projects we were working on was a bloodlust inhibitor. It’s a drug that basically stops a vampire craving blood.’
‘And it works?’
Eileen smiled thinly. ‘There’s the rub. It only works if you administer it before the vampire kills anyone. After it makes its first kill, there’s no going back.’
‘So they shot you up with this inhibitor and sent you here?’
Eileen nodded. ‘I told you I’ve only been here four months, but they had me locked up in HQ for six months before that. When they realised I wasn’t a threat they let me out. I was able to walk around HQ like normal while they decided what to do with me. I was sort of hoping I could keep my job.’
‘Why didn’t they let you, if they decided you weren’t a threat?’
‘Kyle said there were too many unstable elements. He thought another vamp might have been able to work mind mojo on me and make me do stuff. He thought I might try to leave to see my children. My fault for asking him so many times. So four months ago, after I’d tried calling home, he decided it was in the best interests of everyone that I be sent to Section Zero.’ Eileen sniffed back the tears. ‘I never even got through. It only rang twice before they cut me off.’
Nicholl sat back in her chair and tapped her teeth with her thumbnail. ‘Can you fly?’
‘I can, but…’ Eileen opened the neck of her bathrobe and showed Nicholl a plastic collar around her neck.
‘What’s that?’
‘It’s my leash. I get more than two hundred yards away from the perimeter markers on the island...’ She looked up. ‘…in any direction, this little ring of C4 blows my head off.’
Nicholl was silent but Eileen could see she was deep in thought.
‘I heard what you said over at Donna’s.’
Nicholl gave her a questioning glance.
‘I could hear you from here. I would have liked to fight with you, but you’ll just have to leave me here.’
