Dead Surround - The Julia Poe Vampire Chronicles

by Celis T. Rono

  “Better grab your eight on board.”

  Rufus, silent all this time, spoke as he climbed down the ladder. He scratched at his missing ear and said, “Everyone’s here except for Prentis, Joseph, Sainvire, and the woman.”

  “Her name’s Megan, Rufus. You best remember that,” Maple chided, squinting at his oil covered face and filthy overalls.

  “Sorry. Megan.”

  The smell of kerosene blanketed the air. A flash of light followed.

  “The house is on fire!” Michelle yelled from up the mustard tree.

  Before Poe could scramble off the roof to pull the occupants to safety, the sight of a solitary figure watching the blaze stopped her. It was Joseph.

  “He lit the fire,” Poe said under her breath.

  Her throat constricted. She swallowed her tears, avoiding any sentimental nonsense to claim her emotions. She saw the slowly moving puppets of 236

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  darkness clicking their way toward them. The fire illuminated dozens of Revenents. They were the first wave sent to eviscerate Sainvire’s holdovers.

  “Revenents!” yelled Michelle from her perch.

  “Damn Revenents. Prepare yourselves!”

  Tearing his eyes away from the burning house, Joseph calmly approached several of the walking skeletons and doused them with the canister of gasoline he held in his hand. He lit a match and watched as a handful of them caught fire. With a steady voice he asked Michelle to climb down from the tree.

  “I can shoot them from here,” she protested but climbed down nonetheless.

  “You’re getting on that helicopter, Michelle,” he said solemnly, leaving no room for arguments.

  For once Michelle had no smart aleck retort. She understood that the conflagration was Megan’s funeral pyre.

  Poe fired on as many heads until she exhausted the shots in her rifle. But they kept coming in droves.

  “Mom and Dad, help us!” prayed Poe quietly.

  “Let my death be at my own hands.”

  The helicopter hovered past the barn roof during a practice run, bringing a weak smile from Poe.

  “Good job, Rufus!” she yelled once it landed feebly in the back of the barn. She was scared as hell at the flying machine crashing after a mile in the air.

  “Not me, man,” he hollered from out the helicopter window. “It’s your friend, Maclemar! It was all him. Genius, he is!”

  Poe’s grin wavered. A few yards away flew Sainvire, burdened by a limp body in his arms. He soared low due to several Revenents latching on to 237

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  his legs. The weight was dragging him lower and lower to the ground – to the grasping arms of flesh hungry Revenents.

  “Hold on, Kaleb,” she whispered. She took aim at the Revenent wearing a crusty tuxedo and hugging Sainvire’s right leg. Another creature tugged his other leg. “It has to be the head,” she said, calling on the sharp-shooter in her. “I am Bruce Lee’s daughter, Jackie Chan’s niece, and Xena’s clone.”

  Pop. Pop.

  As soon as the hangers-on lost their grip as they mislaid their heads, Sainvire was able to soar higher, reaching the anxious group behind the barn. Prentis, a pretty blonde the same height as Sainvire, was in his arms. Her left arm hung by a few strands of muscle and sinew. Ed swiftly took the halfdead from Sainvire’s arms and arranged her next to Perla inside the helicopter.

  “I can’t take the opening,” said Michelle apprehensively. “Give it to Poe. Or to Maclemar.”

  “Get in, Michelle,” Sainvire ordered. “And you, too, Maclemar.”

  “No. Not me. Let Poe go,” Maclemar said. He shook his head.

  “Eight people only, remember?” interrupted Rufus. “Sorry, but this baby is unreliable.”

  “He can take my place,” assured Sainvire. “Get in, James.”

  “No way,” Maclemar said angrily. “Let Poe—”

  “Leave her to me, man. I’ll fly her away from here.” Before Maclemar could further protest, Sainvire said, “Look. She’s the lightest one out of all of you. Don’t worry. I won’t try to steal her away 238

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  from you. I can’t even think about such things right now.”

  Poe, left to use the ArmaLite because her rifle was out of ammo, was too busy mowing down Revs and the trickling vampires to notice the spectacle below her. When a gust of air nearly blew her smaller guns off the barn roof, Poe looked up in time to see Michelle and her friends shooting at creatures below from inside the chopper. That was when she noticed Maclemar’s grim eyes looking directly at her helmeted face from the window. He placed his perpetually dirty hand to his heart until she could see him no longer.

  Sainvire fought off two vampires that could fly.

  He slashed them with his sharp blade-length nails and disappeared along with the helicopter.

  Her eyes watered. She couldn’t help it. She was alone in a sea of monsters.

  Blinking away her tears Poe concentrated on the vampires climbing onto the roof. She blasted them as she ran upon the roof frame sections undamaged by Rufus’ sloppy helicopter landing. When her ArmaLite clunked empty, she picked up the Tanfoglio and Beretta and fired at the ten wily, rancid nightmares that had made it to the roof.

  “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Mom and Dad, I need your help,” she pleaded.

  Poe turned to her right in time to see the thundering yellow monstrosity of a bulldozer at maximum acceleration. The vamps that saw the machine coming jumped from the roof. “Penny, you better run!” she cried.

  Her left hand pulled the trigger on those still unaware of the impending destruction wrought by a 239

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  giant Tonka toy while her right hand pointed the Beretta at her own forehead.

  “May you all make it safely and continue the fight. Sorry I didn’t get to play with you, Piper,” she said. With a strained smile and a nervous cough, she prepared to die.

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  CHAPTER 11

  THE GUN WAS YANKED away from her hand. The roof beneath her collapsed.

  Before falling into the gaping hole the bulldozer had chunked, Poe felt her legs lift into the air. Bullets grazed her thigh and dinged off her helmet. But she kept flying. It was as if she was dead after all.

  Old Man Death was a funny thing. He looked like the man she loved, and he carried her dog under his other arm.

  “Sainvire?” she asked in a daze.

  “Sorry to botch up another suicide attempt, Poe.

  But I can’t handle you out of this world while I exist.”

  “I guess I’m not dead ’cause I have altitude sickness.”

  “No, but you will be if you don’t shoot at the ancient undead on our trail,” he said. He adjusted her on his shoulder like he was burping her while keeping the dog comfortable with his other arm.

  Penny the dog took to the air like a real trooper. Poe really was the best shooter Sainvire had ever seen.

  “Right,” Poe nodded. She reached for a firearm in her side sheath. “Still alive. I gotta kill.”

  Even in the air Poe’s sure-shot skills hadn’t abandoned her. A gift from God, Sister Ann had claimed more than once. It’s a gift ’cause God owes 241

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  me, Poe thought sarcastically as she shot each long-toothed gremlin that pursued them with precision.

  God knows how much life sucks in vampire times, so he made me pest control.

  Sundry other thoughts floated in her mind even when she killed the last flying nasty. Two years ago she had depleted the flying vamp population in L.A.

  with the help of a rifle. Sainvire shifted her position once more so she could wind her arms about his neck. She could feel his disfigured shoulder bulging beneath her forearm. The moonlight emphasized the fatigue about his face. The vampire was even slightly shaking. With gentleness not known to Poe, she touched the scar above his lips.

  “You know something?” she said while staring into
his silver eyes. “I think you’re my hero.”

  Sainvire laughed as he prepared to descend to a hard-to-reach field surrounded by rocky slopes. “I think you’re mistaken. As far as I know I’ve always been on the losing side of things. I believe I’ve never been successful in anything, so I hope you’re not serious.”

  Poe felt solid ground. Reluctantly she let her arms fall to her side. “Heroes don’t have to be winners all the time.” Penny whined and ran around in circles in praise of the land beneath her feet.

  “It sure would help,” he sighed. He collapsed behind a boulder. “Help me with this coat, will you?”

  She pulled the dark coat from his arms and about his shoulder. It was only then that she noticed the wetness of his shirt. His back and limbs were riddled with bullets still lodged in the skin, and his left side had been cut three inches deep. Brackish blood 242

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  trickled from his side. “Kaleb! You’ve been hit!” she cried.

  “I know,” said Sainvire. “I think I’m done for.”

  “What’s your problem? Everyone and their dog’s wearing bulletproof vests but you? Do you have a death wish or something?” she accused. Tears spilled down her cheek. “And don’t say that. You’re not gonna die. I won’t let you!”

  “You seem to have a magical pack,” he said lightly, wincing. “Would you happen to have Plasmacore on you?”

  “No. Sorry,” Poe answered gravely. “You’re going to be okay, aren’t you?”

  “Sure. Just let me sleep. With luck the bullets will pop out by themselves soon enough, and this wound on my side will solder together.” Sainvire had made himself a guinea pig by undergoing garlic injections to introduce the poison into his system.

  Years later the vampire achieved his goal by achieving immunity to the potent vampire killer.

  She brushed Sainvire’s hair from his forehead.

  The vampire’s skin felt clammy to the touch. “How about I cut myself and give you some of my blood?”

  Sainvire smiled weakly. “Thanks for the offer, but your blood would weaken me even more. I might not be able to withstand the sun if I go back to drinking pure human blood.”

  “What about animal blood?” she asked in a desperate voice.

  “Penny?”

  “Shut up. Of course not!”

  “Animal blood would sustain me for a few hours, but I think most creatures know to hide once the sun goes down.”

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  Poe covered the vampire in his coat and thought about Penny, Chops, and the baby. She couldn’t let any of them die, especially the love of her life.

  “Where can I get Plasmacore around here, Kaleb?

  Joseph said you’ve planted crates of it everywhere for emergency. And this is an emergency.”

  Sainvire, shivering, answered, “There’s an abandoned mine about nine miles south of here. We hid some Plasmacore there.”

  Poe picked up her pack and nodded. “I’ll go get some right now.”

  “Be sensible, Poe,” said the vampire who was finding it harder to speak. “Scouts are all around.”

  Poe leaned down and kissed Sainvire’s cold lips.

  “Just point which way is south, and I’ll take it from there.” Outside of Downtown Los Angeles she never did figure out her directions. “Don’t worry. I have Penny with me.” As if to assure the vampire, the dog placed a dirty paw on Sainvire’s leg.

  “You keep to the trees. Away from the green, the ground will be rock and gravel. Avoid walking on those until the very end when you see an abandoned mine shaft. Trees were planted in threes every quarter-mile or so on the gravel end. They’ll let you know you’re heading the right direction.”

  “Won’t be a problem with my Skywalker night helmet.”

  Sainvire grabbed Poe’s arm before she could leave. “Have I ever told you how much I love you, Julia Poe?” he asked in a weak voice. He was near delirium.

  Poe wiped away errant tears. “Yes, Kaleb.

  You’ve told me twice before, and I’d really like to hear it again and again. Hold on for me, okay?”

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  The vampire didn’t answer. He had lost consciousness.

  

  “Help Sainvire, Great Ali,” she muttered as she sprinted in the dark followed by her terrier. She prayed to anyone listening to help Joseph deal with his loss and for Perla to wake up from her cattle stupor. She was annoyed with herself for not properly thanking Michelle for backing her up. What a great gal she is.

  Then there was Maclemar. She’d known him but a short time, but she was positive she loved him. Not the caliber of love she felt for Kaleb, but it was special all the same. He was willing to die for her, an inconsequential girl with attitude he’d met only days before.

  Poe tripped on a jutting rock her helmet had failed to illuminate and skinned her elbows. She gulped for air. She was living a Twilight Zone episode. The girl who jogged until she dropped dead.

  Exhausted having run nearly fifteen miles that night, Poe looked down at Penny. The dog was breathing erratically and panting. “I’m sorry, girl.

  This is a hell of a weird night. Thank you for sticking with me.” She sat down on the ground and hugged the dog that smelled of soil. “Please always stay with me, Pen. I know I put you through a lot.”

  Losing side or not, Poe was dogged to fight on by the time the sun rose in the pinkish eastern sky.

  She needed Plasmacore for Sainvire. Whoever gave me the gift to obliterate and to live this long must 245

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  have a purpose for me. And that is to end the reign of corrupt, racist, and gluttonous vampires.

  “I can’t die. It’s not allowed,” she said out loud.

  “I resolve to be a hero like Sainvire. I’m gonna shake the very foundation of this jacked up society. Only this time I’m winning. And you’re going to be by my side, Penny Pen.”

  Shaky legs, screaming lungs and all, she stood up and resumed running. Her body was so tired that she felt feverish. She tracked the random trees planted on the other side of the green. They reached the mine in about two hours, longer than what she would have liked. Her knees felt arthritic, and her joints ached. She paused not too far from the mine to hydrate her dog and herself with her last bottle of water. Sitting down on the dirt, Poe stretched a leg.

  She took out a Ziploc full of jerky sticks from her pack and passed them to Penny who chowed them down like the end was near. As she was extending the other leg for a stretch, Penny growled in her tongueless manner. In that awkward position she found five mustached undead, high-powered rifles in their arms, surrounding her.

  “What have we here?” said the burliest of the five. “Could it be Public Enemy Number Two?”

  Poe inched her hand to her holster, but the burly guy said, “Hey hey. You reach for that gun, your ass is mine.” He motioned for the others to disarm her.

  “Check everywhere, including her ankles. This little girl is slippery.”

  Three men dressed in LAPD blues stripped her of her pack and weapons until Poe felt naked. One of them even cupped a feel which made Poe seethe with hate.

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  “Want me to shoot the dog, Gary?” asked the runtiest of the lot.

  “No!” Poe screamed, scrambling to her knees and hugging Penny to her upper body. “No one touches my dog!” Poe felt ill. Sainvire was dying and getting Plasmacore to him seemed impossible now.

  Her energy was so drained, and as far as she could tell, the five men were vampires.

  “Sainvire is injured, isn’t he, girl?” asked Gary, the ringleader. “Isn’t that why you’ve come to the mine for Plasmacore?”

  “Plasmacore?” asked Poe innocently. “I don’t know anything about Plasmacore. I’m only trying to get away from Revs and vamps from the dark side.”

  “Don’t bullshit us, bitch,” a vampire nam
ed Henry with heavyset eyelids said. “You and your dog were last seen carried away by Sainvire. We have it on good authority that he was cut up by a sword laced with garlic oil and shot multiple times. And we know every Plasmacore stash location within a fifty-mile distance. The turkeys you run with left behind a map.”

  Poe glanced about. She looked like a tiny football player in her helmet. She saw five vicious-looking dead that would never let her escape. The price on her head was too high. She sniffed, “I don’t know about Plasmacore, officer. As for Sainvire, he died three hours ago. I watched him turn to mush.”

  “She’s lying,” one of the generic mustached men accused.

  “Look, asshole,” said Poe. She rose and held her dog protectively like a baby. “Sainvire was the love of my life. I watched him die, and I couldn’t do anything about it. I don’t really give a fuck if you 247

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  think I’m lying.” She wiped away tears, real tears, for she knew Sainvire was as good as dead without Plasmacore.

  “Why did you come here then?” asked Henry.

  “I was hoping to find Sainvire’s people,”

  explained Poe angrily. “Me and Penny are alone now.”

  “Although I feel for your loss,” a round-faced civilian said, “That’s what you get for fucking a dickhead thief like Sainvire. Do you know how hard it’s been for us? We’ve had to drink tainted black blood, Mexican blood, and Asian blood. The blood of our old janitors and bedpan cleaners. Fuck, it’s just sick!”

  Poe, glad that she didn’t stutter anymore, laughed. “Man, you’re hilarious! If you weren’t flapping your mouth in semi-lucid sentences, I’d think you were a chicken flapping its wings or something.”

  In a blur the civilian lunged at Poe. She didn’t see him coming nor did she see Gary block his way.

  With a shove Gary pushed him away from Poe. “I’m not going to lose my stake, Robert. You keep your hands to yourself. Trench is circling his chopper as we speak, so hold your horses.” He looked at Poe.

  “And you. Keep your trap shut, or I’ll kill your dog.

  Got it?”

  Poe clutched Penny tighter until the dog whined in discomfort. “Got it.”