by Alexia Purdy
The next day I geared up at sunrise and readied to leave. Having not slept well that night, I felt strangely energized and awaited the day with an elated anticipation. I was relieved that the motion sensors had not gone off at all the entire night. Maybe the woman had been more scared of me than I thought. Or maybe she would be back later. Who knew? I wasn’t going to let her ruin my plans to continue my search for my mother and brother.
The drive to the city was uneventful; it felt different in the smaller car than the minivan I was used to. It was almost cramped with the weapons I liked stashed in it. It would have to do for now. The meteor hammer I had brought along today was rocking in the chair, trying to roll out of the rope that cradled it. I didn’t use it often but its deadly force was amazing when one got it right. I felt like swinging it around, smashing things. Today was a good day to do exactly that.
Once I arrived at the nearest gas station, I filled two gallon containers with gasoline for the mischief I had planned. Riding with the containers full was not comfortable when the fumes that seeped from them made me nauseous. Once I’d had enough siphoned from the station and several abandoned cars parked along the streets, I hopped back into my car and crossed over the freeway overpass to the Strip. I parked in front of the Imperial Palace, glancing down each way at the smaller casinos. If any ferals were lurking about, I was going to take care of them for sure. I wasn’t about to deal with too much hand to hand combat today. Today was my retribution and I wanted to burn the place down.
I wrapped the rope around my chest diagonally and strapped one machete to my right side down my thigh. The actual meteor hammer ball I twisted into the rope loops so it wouldn’t swing around and hit me as I moved. I grabbed one gasoline container and placed it outside the nearest casino, looking into the reflective one-way mirror tint that glared back at me on the windows. The woman that stared back seemed to change and flashed back to the image of the woman up in the mountains for a moment. I blinked her away, knowing how she gnawed on my mind but tried to clear my thoughts for the task at hand. I pushed in the door and scanned the front of the casino, illuminated somewhat through the deeply tinted glass.
This place was a mess–it had not been left undisturbed at all. The card tables were upturned and chips were scattered across the floor. The chairs had not remained untouched either; some were torn into two pieces, with their stuffing spilt out across the carpet. I stared back into the blackness at the rear of the casino, wondering what lurked in the shadows. The dark stared right back at me like a gaping mouth waiting to take a bite and rip me to shreds. I was certain I wasn’t alone–only the boundaries of the sun’s span kept a wall between me and whatever feral creatures awaited a taste of my sweet, crimson blood. I sneered, feeling the sudden rush of adrenaline rising to ready me for the thrill of the fight.
Pulling the meteor hammer off my body, I let the rope fall to the ground as I unwound it and looped it through my left hand. I let the remaining rope dangle and dragged it with my right hand as I walked forward. I was happy that the vaulted ceilings were so high; there was more than enough room to let me swing around my seldom-used toy. I felt ferocious as I pulled it along, feeling the familiar buzz along my skin that the ferals seemed to bring out when they were near. It vibrated up my arms and made my senses expand as they neared me. I hardly felt the smile across my face as the first of the wild ones crept over to me from a dark pillar on the edge of the room, hidden enough in the shadow so as not to make it cringe in pain from the sunlight outside but enough to let me see them with my human vision.
I started swinging the hammer, letting its momentum build as the rope hummed out its ominous whoosh. I loved the feeling it gave me, almost like a cowboy with a lasso, but this lasso could smash a feral’s head to smithereens. Just as it stepped closer, growling and snapping its fanged mouth in my direction, I released the meteor hammer so it could do its work. The result was an explosion of thick chunks of brain matter and skull all across the wall and upturned tables.
His body hadn’t even hit the floor before another lunged from behind a pile of tables that had been stacked together, apparently to shield them from the sun. His red, gleaming eyes narrowed as he hissed–his rotten teeth full of old blood and other things. Pale and dirty greenish-grey skin shone through the rips of his shirt near his shoulders. A once-healthy bicep muscle line peeked through.
He had to have been young when he turned, I was pretty sure of it. From the condition of this one, he had obviously been more dominant than the other ferals, not missing too many meals. His snarl grumbled in my ears, vibrating the air. I smirked back at him and, with a snap of my arm, flung the heavy metal hammer toward the spot between the eyes. His body flew back as the metal ball impacted with his head, amazingly not cracking his face in but sending his head flying off whole as it tore from the momentum. Blood erupted from the stump of his neck but I didn’t have time to enjoy the spectacle. Two others popped out from behind him and lunged at me. I swung at them in succession, letting the momentum of the ball bash through them both, sending their bodies flying back into another group advancing behind them.
I backed away into the light from the windows, letting the boundary of the sun stop them in their tracks; the evil in their eyes filled with a desire so deep, they would stop at nothing to get what they wanted. I swung my weapon around in a continual spin, pummeling a couple more in their chests, sending them crashing back. I was willing to bet they would rip me to shreds without hesitation. I decided to leave the room to fetch the container of gasoline.
“So, you want to play it rough, huh?” I laughed at the creatures, even though I was sure they could not understand. They were wilder than beasts, with no understanding except the desire to rip flesh and drink blood.
“I’m sure you will love to play this game for sure.” I dumped the gas on them, heaving the container high enough to get the gas beyond them, into the casino. After dumping most of it on them and the surroundings, I smiled and waved as I backed out the door, their snarls never ceasing. Outside, I stepped back to find the outside ladder to the roof. Finding what I was looking for, I retrieved the pipe bombs from the car, which were all ready to go. Climbing the ladder, I lit one at a time and flung them across the roof to the area where the ferals were standing underneath the roof. I dove off the ladder, sending one lit pipe bomb inside the interior of the building before I ran around the corner for shelter just as the first of the pipe bombs went off, sending debris shooting up into the air and roof tiles flinging across the street as the top of the building collapsed. The ground shook and I had to cover my ears from the booms vibrating through my head. I was pretty sure I had woken up some of the other hives around me.
Once the last of the bombs went off, I returned to survey the damage. The front windows had exploded outward and dust and debris billowed out, making it hard to see into the building until it cleared a bit. I smiled, seeing the holes in the roof all the way to the rear of the casino. The gasoline, ignited by the explosions, was now consuming the writhing ferals with its burning embrace.
I hurried to set up the next casino the same way, not bothering to linger inside to smash them up as much. I wanted it to burn fast and fatal. The desire ran rampant inside me like a feverish plague engulfing my senses. Nothing would be better than to watch the city burn.
This casino was taller than the last. It had about four stories instead of the usual one or two of the smaller casinos. Inside, I contemplated the height of the roof, muttering to myself how completely not easy this one would be. I swapped the meteor hammer out for a hatchet and machete back at my car and grabbed the second gasoline container. Lighting the flashlights attached to a belt across my chest like a coal miner, I returned to the inside. I didn’t see any ferals around but the smell alone told me otherwise and I knew that I was not alone.
I found the stairs and ascended as quickly as possible, keeping my eyes above me as I approached each floor. I was amazed at my luck in not finding any stragglers on the stairwell; it would n
ot be easy to engage in hand-to-hand combat within the confines of this small space. Finding nothing, I reached the top floor easily and prepped to run into something as I entered the floor.
Finding mostly offices this high up, I scanned the darkness of the hallways slowly. I wondered where the damn ferals had hidden. Possibly the balcony of the second floor that looked down on the first floor? It seemed like the best hiding space that was easily accessible to them, from what I had seen. I made my way to the windowed side of the halls, knowing the sun’s rays meant safety. I began laying down the pipe bombs, connecting the fuses and running them down the halls and into the offices. Once I had finished, I took the gasoline container and let out splashes of fluid all around the halls and near the pipe bombs. Once I lit it, I would have to dash away fast, down the steps and out the door before the roof collapsed. I wondered if I should just leave a trail of gas down the steps to at least the second floor and prop the stairwell door open to give me a better amount of time to escape.
Pondering my options, I nodded to myself. I think I could make it at least from the third floor. Sloshing the pungent liquid down the stairs, I made sure the fuse of the pipe bombs lay in the path of the gas to light up once the fire made it around toward the windows. I gritted my teeth as I completed the arrangement. I wasn’t an arsonist and all I knew were from endless documentaries I had watched during the long quiet nights in the bunker with my family softly sleeping nearby. I wondered if it would work. It had better work. This was as good a place as any to try out my theory. As I made my way down the steps, I paused at the third floor, thinking about checking out what was on this floor before lighting the place up. My curiosity got the best of me, unfortunately.
Pushing the door open, I peeked into another area, an open room with many columns, and some tables pushed to the sides, like a banquet hall. I walked through the massive room, looking at the many different decorations that sat stored in the corners; I could make out some sunlight through the drapes of curtains along the same side as the windows above, on the next floor. Walking slowly down one side of the banquet room, the eeriness of the place seemed to drift about me and cling to the air in a cold embrace. I could almost hear the music that had once been played in this abandoned hall. Many a wedding reception or party had gone on here, it looked well used. Now, no one would ever dance here again.
Hearing a creak behind me and the familiar guttural noise a feral vampire makes, I turned and could hear footsteps approaching me from behind one of the piles of debris stacked high to one side. I pulled out my hatchet, expecting to take them down quickly. Instead I found what used to be a woman. She reached toward me with her long dirty nails and ragged clothes. I held steadfast but found my eyes drifting to something hanging from her chest that made me do a double take. It looked like a baby carrier strapped to her, the kind that let a baby face the wearer.
A sudden wave of nausea choked me, making me step away from her as the top of a baby’s head flopped inside the carrier, the wispy hair still in place on the ashen grey skin of an infant. I heard its soft moan while the small hands curled and scratched at its mother.
I tripped and fell backward from the shock of what I had seen. The child was also a feral. It disgusted me beyond belief. Even if it was a vampire, it was still a small baby that I could not bring myself to swing at. The mother, yes–but a baby? Scrambling to get back up, I held the hatchet in my hand, thinking about running to the stairwell and heading out instead of facing this one. I didn’t want to face her and the child. It was the stuff made of nightmares. It was so morbid and wrong on so many levels. Blowing up the building with them in it didn’t seem as hard to do as hacking them to death. My heart was in my throat; that poor baby hadn’t even had a chance at life.
Running towards the stairwell door, I had almost reached the frame when I found myself flying to the ground as another vampire shoved me. This one was bulky, his muscles protruding through the rips in his shirt. Thick arms wrapped around my waist as we rolled to the ground. I immediately hacked at his arms and face with the hatchet but couldn’t get enough leverage to smash in his skull. His furrowed eyes glared at me in a hard, red, hateful stare. Snarling and snapping at me with his thick jaw, the hatchet hardly fazed him and his grip was solid as he bear-hugged my waist, making it impossible to kick him off.
Rocking my body, I pulverized his face with the hatchet before grabbing a dagger off my bandoleer and driving it into his eye socket. The squeezing ceased as he stilled, but the weight of his leaden body pinned me down. I stopped struggling to take in my surroundings. The woman with the baby was staggering my way but was still far enough away from me that I could probably throw something at her. I suddenly wished I had my crossbow to sink an arrow cleanly into her. I had some grenades attached to me but I didn’t want to risk igniting the gasoline fumes that leaked from the stairwell.
I quickly realized that I had little choice; heavy, husky guy’s weight had me stuck for the moment. I pulled the grenade off my belt and struggled a bit more with the husky man; his black-red blood poured onto my abdomen and chest. I tried not to think about how disgusting that was as I squirmed to free myself. I pulled the pin on the grenade as the woman edged closer, seemingly slow for a feral. I wondered how long she had been stuck up here. She had probably fed very little and was now feeling the effects of it, making her weak. Right as I was about to be freed from the dead corpse that held me down like a paperweight, another feral come about, throwing itself down on me and snarling as I scrambled to back away. Unfortunately, the impact of its body on me was enough to make me lose my grip on the grenade, sending it rolling down toward the stairwell.
I finally managed to kick this one back and jump to my feet, scrambling away from the rolling grenade and the third feral, toward the pile of overturned tables on the other side of the room. I dove the last few feet and slammed against the wall as the explosion shook the building and sent debris flying into the two ferals, along with a puff of dust and particles. Luckily, the tables took the brunt of the splintered mess that had flown my way. Dusting myself off, I coughed as the smoke in the room began to build from the fire that smoldered at the exit and ran up the stairs. I wondered what other escape I had, knowing the fire was crawling along the gas trail to the bombs above and below.
I glanced at the windows. I ran toward them and peeked down to the street below. I was still too far up for a safe landing but I had to think of something. I quickly grabbed the sheets that lay over the stored tables and chairs but were now dusted with debris. I knotted the sheets end to end as fast as I could and tied one end to the pillar closest to the windows. I threw a chair into the window. It splintered into a spidery crack but remained intact. Cursing, I grabbed the chair and smacked at the window again. After the third try the window blew out, letting the cool crisp air from the outside rush in, sweeping up more debris and fanning the flames. I tied the sheets around me and prepared to jump but the blast above me reverberated through the walls, releasing more chunks of concrete and wood.
The vibration knocked me to my feet. On my back, I struggled to stand, watching as the roof came tumbling down to smash into the floor. It made its way right down through to the next floor, the weight splintering the wood and concrete. Gasping, I avoided the falling pieces of concrete as I tried to roll away, wrapping the sheet around me even more. I wasn’t fast enough. I felt the ground lurch as it gave way underneath me. I fell until the sheet snapped tight around me. The sheet remained wrapped around my body several times, pinning my right arm to my side as I tried to frantically free myself.
I glanced down into the now empty hole below me. The debris had smashed a path down to the basement and the drop had to be more than thirty feet. I gulped, wondering if I would make it if I cut the sheet. I held onto the wrap with my left arm, feeling a raw ache on the side of my head where a warm wetness dripped down from it. The vampire bite in my arm seared from the pressure against it.
Damn! I was sure to have a seeping cut where
my head had hit the side of the floor when I descended. Grunting, I wiggled like a caterpillar in a chrysalis, trying to break free of the restraints the sheets had become. Failing miserably, I stopped struggling and glanced around and above to see what I could do. Fortunately, I was near the edge of the floor and wasn’t too far from being able to grip it. Grabbing the blanket, I pulled up on it, hoping to loosen its grip on me just enough to pull my other arm free. It worked and I shook the sheet loose from my arm. Now free to pull my body up with both hands, I started the tedious task of dragging my weight up with my arms. I now thanked myself for busting my own butt to work out and even though I had been slacking lately, my efforts were still noticeable.
The cloud of dust swirled away from me, clearing up the air as I grunted and worked my way up. Once I was an arm’s length away from the edge of what was left of the third floor, I reached up, grasping the ragged cement edge. It cut into my fingers with the sharp points of rebar and hard, rough concrete that crumbled a bit in my grasp. I gritted my teeth as I pulled myself further up the rope of sheets.
As I lifted my head up to look back onto the third floor, I realized the sheets were on fire. Flames licked at the other end of it, which dangled above as the fire slowly crawled toward me. I tried to grip both hands onto the ledge but the burning flames had eaten into the material so badly that my last tug made it unravel, sending me sliding back down. I dangled from the ledge by one hand, my arm burning as I held on for dear life. The part of the sheet that had been wrapped around me had loosened up enough for me to kick it off, sending it spiraling into the black abyss below like a rippling ribbon of fire.
Chapter Twelve
