by Maxey, Phil
The Drak lunged from the gloom with huge hands, but missed as Joel leaped directly upwards while twisting to grab hold of the reeds and branches that had made the roof their home. Ignoring the creature trying to find space to stretch its wings and follow him, he ran to the front and looked down as the sand filled wall crumbled. Nelson staggered back towards the entrance, waving his hands in front of him, turning what metal from his surroundings he could into projectiles, but the Drak almost on him just batted the objects away.
Joel jumped down, landing on top of the light tank, grabbed the big gun and fired it almost point blank into the huge Alkron, tearing it apart despite the armor it was wearing. More screams came from his right and he directed his fire in that direction, but the forest was alive with dark menacing shadows and nothing else. He jumped down, grabbed the back of Nelson and pulled him inside, slamming the solid door closed.
Three miles to the west Kizzy and Dalton were running. Despite the rain that was fallen around them, like an advanced warning, the air was thick with the smell of dried blood and sweat, and just audible above the wind was a din of screeching. The tanks had fallen silent and the two Alkrons, both transformed into stronger, faster versions of their human selves, were pushing every muscle to outrun a tsunami of death.
Kizzy lifted her radio to her mouth. “Bunker eight! Make… Sure… The door… is—” Branches and whole trees crashed to the ground as the vamps, packed together like desperate starving rats tore through the forest behind them. “— open!”
A light became visible through the trees ahead. Dalton dropped his helmet, then his gun, as did she so they could run quicker, both moving faster than any human had ran before, leaves and branches slashing across them as they leaped over logs and rocks, the ground now a constant tremor.
Two soldiers frantically waved them on, then fell to their knees firing, the bullets searing the air just inches away from the Alkrons who sprinted across the clearing in front of the bunker.
Dalton and Kizzy threw themselves through the opening as the soldiers jumped back inside, closing the door and pulled the heavy latches down. They all ran down the stairs as a thundering barrage slammed into the entrance behind them, making dust fall from the ceiling.
*****
Rynon looked down at the fires that still burned amongst the ruins of the base, paying particular attention to the islands of concrete which stood out against the broken and splintered trees. One structure felt different. He looked across to the panicked face of the human scientist who was trying to speak, his weak jaw not being able to withstand the force of the wind long enough to release words. Still, maybe he device was confirming what the ancient king could also sense.
“Take me down!” Rynon commanded to the Drak above.
He landed on the rain soaked ground, stepping over the remains of a soldier and vampire. Others landed nearby, including his brother Eltir, and Adrian, dressed in combat gear with a harness strapped to his back.
The scientist waved a small black box around, eventually facing the strange triangular roofed building that the others were looking at.
“There!” said Adrian. “I’m picking up signature energy from inside that bunker!”
Rynon took a step forward but not before Eltir had. The older brother looked back. “Let me go with our warriors to claim the prize for you.”
The hybrid king looked at Adrian. “If you are wrong about this human, you will be food by the morning.”
Adrian’s head shook. “Yes, the energy the tablets produce is definitely coming from inside that building.”
Rynon looked at his brother and nodded, who in turn looked at an armored Drak to his side. The menacing creature lumbered forward, then fell upon the door with a series of blows. The group of corporation soldiers raised their weapons, and the once secure layers of iron shook then blew open.
A hail of bullets filled the air until Rynon raised his hand, and the woods returned to the sound of the wind and flames.
Eltir looked inside, then at Adrian.
“Err… okay,” said the scientist, stumbling forward, then switched his flashlight on, peering into the gloom of the narrow corridor. He looked down at his instrument, then nodded, walking inside with Eltir and soldiers behind.
They walked cautiously down the steps until reaching the second secure door. Eltir slammed his shoulder against it, but it remained steadfast. He frowned, looking back to the human. “You sure this is the—”
Rynon’s world became burning heat and flame as the building in front of him exploded.
A hundred yards away beneath the earth the tunnel Joel was running along shuddered, almost making him drop the silver suitcase he was carrying.
Images of him doing the same months earlier flashed through his mind, but this time nothing was going to stop him from making it to his destination.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Marina looked at the hundreds of people within the damp dungeon walls of the old fortress, that was perched on the end of the islet, guarding the entrance to the bay. Children huddled together, while adults talked in hushed tones.
Is this it? All that’s left of humanity?
She wasn’t sure, but it felt like it. The last chance to defeat the scourge, something she didn’t even think possible a few days ago.
Joel’s plan to evacuate the most secure locations was a bold but risky plan. Some explosives were used to make connections to the sewers that ran under the base, linking some of the bunkers together, and allowing those cocooned inside a way to escape to another location that could offer some hope of being alive by sunrise.
She had arrived with most of the population from the base before the three bridges were blown, with the remaining C4 being set to explode on a few of the underground refuges should anyone be foolish enough to enter. She hoped they had.
“How will we know when it’s safe to go back upstairs?” said Jessica by her side.
Marina smiled. “When the sun rises it will be safe. But we have to stay down here until then, okay?”
“The monsters can still get us?”
She hugged her daughter closer. “That won’t happen. We’re safe here.” She did her best to hide her doubt and fear. Jasper played with a toy robot, one that he had kept with him since Hector’s church. Emotion welled up within her. She wondered what effect seeing his father had on him, but the words he shouted at Copeland were the last he had uttered. She looked at Sasha, who was seated near Corine. “Can you—”
The young woman nodded and she looked at her two children. “I’m just going to talk to some people. But I won’t be long, okay?” They both nodded. “Sasha is here, and so are Flint and Shadow, and all of these people!” They both smiled. “I’ll be right back.” Marina got up, stretched, then made her way across the well worn slabs, past boxes of supplies and to the iron gated entrance, where two soldiers were standing guard. They opened the door and she ascended a narrow stone staircase, then walked through a series of corridors, moving closer to a bastion of noise. Another soldier opened a door to a former restaurant and accompanying gift shop, which had been transformed into the new base of operations. She spotted Anna chatting to Winston and walked past other officers talking into headsets while working on mobile computers. “Any news?”
Anna turned around, shaking her head.
“He’ll make it. That’s what he does. Where are the vamps?”
“Doesn’t look like they can swim, thank God,” said Winston.
“We think about ten thousand survived everything we threw at them,” said Gus. “And if that’s all they got, we might make it…”
*****
Joel stood beside a rusting door, listening for the slightest of noises besides the wind then looked at his watch.
Just under six hours to go.
The sewer had emerged inside a warehouse, which from memory he hoped was at the far eastern edge of the base, with just the fence and road beyond. The incessant gnawing in his brain confirmed that vamps were no
t far, but his other senses were telling him none were too close. That was good enough.
He pulled the handle down and pulled the door back, it sending a high pitch creak out into the night. Luckily the wind and rain hadn’t let up and were louder. He looked left, then right with his NVG’s and not seeing any movement, sprinted forward, leaping across the pieces of security fence that had been trampled to the dirt and kept on going towards the safety of trees on the other side of the two-lane road.
He could feel the blood lusting creatures in the city ahead of him, the direction he needed to go. Keeping within the small strip of trunks and branches, he moved fast, but being careful not to make too much noise. If even one vamp discovered his presence the whole herd would soon be alerted.
He moved beneath an overpass, being acutely aware of the echoing his boots were making and increased his speed, coming out to a more open area of a building site. Diggers sat on their sides, alongside mounds of dispersed bricks. The ground was sodden but quiet, and he ran across the sandy ground, trying to spot any danger in the green shades around him.
Despite the rain falling, he picked up the sound of crashing waves, and a salty odor hung in the air.
Getting closer.
The vamps were to the south, his right, no doubt searching every avenue and narrow street for any sign of life.
A huge drenched parking lot lay in front of him.That and other expanses of concrete stretched all the way to where he needed to be. Other routes would take him further into the city, towards certain death.
He quickly plotted a path which gave him some cover, and sprinted forward, a single hybrid man carrying what would end the scourge, running through the storm. As he ran he looked to both sides for any sign that he was being followed but there wasn’t any glowing eyes amongst the dark, and he made it to his first waypoint. Stopping to catch his breath beside the empty shipping container, he looked out towards the dark towers of the city.
The buzzing in his mind was louder. But he couldn’t tell if that was because he was moving towards them, or they, him. Either way he needed to get to the dock. The sound of the ocean was clear, even through the falling rain. He looked out into the gloom once more, then towards his next point of refuge and sprinted out into the dark quickly making it to the side of a number of semi-truck trailers, and slid down between them. The roar of the sea was just tens of yards away, the massive waves spraying the dockside. He walked down the side of the trailer and looked at the silhouette of the towers of the fortresses of old San Juan. For a moment the scene of hope eclipsed his thoughts, almost masking the thundering ache in his mind. The vamps were coming.
He broke free from the metal walls and ran through the spray, hoping the waves would somehow cover his existence. Then past the bases of huge cranes, some of which had fallen into the sea. An almighty crash of metal came from his right. He flicked his head across to see shipping containers toppling about a hundred yards away, at the edge of the parking lot.
Ignoring what was pouring over them, he pushed his arms and legs faster, surging along the dockside.
Not going to make it. Time for plan B.
He leaped fifteen feet into the air and grabbed the ladder of one of the towering cranes and climbed as fast as he could, reaching the first level and kept on going, as he did he looked down at the ground being flooded by vamps, coming from all directions.
He stepped out to the topmost level, holding the guardrail against the winds threatening to push him off, then looked to the heavens. “I know you’re up there!” he shouted into the storm. “I can sense you! So if you want to be a hero, this would be the time!”
The supports holding the crane vertical creaked and the structure shuddered under the weight of the claws and weight pressing on it.
Joel looked out to the sea. He really didn’t want to try ‘Plan C.’
Come on…
Then he felt it. A presence was falling at a great speed. He raised his arms and in an instant was lifted into the air.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
“Unless your vamps gonna grow gills, I don’t see how they are getting on that island,” said Iona to the ancient hybrid king standing at the edge of a jagged hole, that was once a bridge.
He looked at the neat dark shapes of the historic town and hotels across the turbulent waters, and the more recognizable buildings to him beyond. Fortresses.
The armored vehicle in front of the bunker’s entrance took most of the explosive blast, but he still slammed heavily into a tree behind, knocking him momentarily unconscious, a state he had not been in since the capsules. His healing ability quickly cured him of the physical pain, but as he approached the mound of rubble that used to be a building, he was in no doubt that he was alone in the world. The last king. Rage came but was quickly smothered by hate. A burning far hotter than the flames from the bomb he had just experienced. This was blinding, and his thoughts only consisted of one thing. Revenge. He would not only raise the island to the ground, casting it to a barren wasteland, but on returning to the mainland would continue to do the same to all settlements. It was time the world returned to the old, wiping it clean of any human infestation. He now understood why he had been brought back from his age old slumber. Fate had given him, and only him the chance to make the world anew.
He stepped forward, closer to the crashing waves. “The low beasts will no longer be necessary. They have done their job. Nor will I need your human machines to achieve my objectives.” He turned to a black suited hybrid soldier. “Have my legion arrived in the city?”
“Almost, sire.”
Iona looked confused. “What is your le—” Her eyes wide, she looked down at the silver blade that had penetrated her chest armor. She grabbed it with both hands, then fell backwards, dead, to the ground.
Rynon looked down with disgust. “You will no longer be needed as well, or any of your kind. You are the true scourge, and I will end all of you.” He held his blade out over the harbor wall and let the spray from the ocean wash her blood from it, then slid it back into its sheath on his back as a middle-aged woman was dragged forward, manacles around her wrists. She was thrown down into a puddle at the back of his feet.
Margery’s face was pale and covered in bruises. “How can I help sire…”
Rynon’s eyes remained fixed on the shadows of buildings, a few miles away. “Are the tablets on that island…”
She let out a breath in despair. “I cannot track things, only people sire…”
In a blur he turned, grabbing her by the scruff of her jacket, lifting her clear of the ground. “Then where are the people!”
Her bloodshot eyes looked past him to old San Juan.
*****
A soldier on the rain-soaked fortress walls, pointed into the air. “Drak!”
Joel soon realized he was an easy target for terrified soldiers and looked up. “Let go!”
Copeland did and he dropped the twenty or so feet to the ground, landing like a cat, then looked at the beams of light all focused on him. He raised the hand holding the suitcase. “You think you can lower your—”
Before he could finish he saw a figure rushing towards him, and before he could fully form a smile Anna almost bowled him over with her embrace, then meeting of lips.
“Is everyone okay?” he said.
She nodded, while Marina, Carla and Alfredo jogged over to them.
The ancient king smiled. “There was a moment where I had doubts this plan would work.”
“It hasn’t worked yet. How long we got?”
“Just over five hours,” said Carla.
Joel looked back towards where he had come from and the city beyond. “The vamps didn’t make it across then.”
“No,” said Anna. “Not big on swimming.”
“Have they made any other efforts to get to us?”
Marina went to respond when a soldier ran across the grass. “The general needs you all inside!”
They quickly followed him back, being glad to
be out of the wind and rain and walked into a room full of heat, light and anxious faces.
Joel nodded to Amos who was sitting behind Galloway. The young man replied in kind.
The general listened some more into her headset, nodding, then looked to the newcomers. “Our forward sentry points, at the far southern points of this island are telling us the vamps have all moved back from shore.”
“Wouldn’t it be great, if they had decided to just pack up and go home,” said Anna.
“They know the tablets are on this island,” said Joel. “They won’t want to go back to the mainland empty handed. They’re coming, it’s just a question of how.”
Marina looked back at the windows to the restaurant that rattled against the wind. “This weathers going to make it hard for them to land from the air, or breach the island by sea.”
Joel looked down at a map of the island sprayed out on a dining table. “If the bad weather holds, then the only way they get to us is where the shores are only forty-feet apart. That’s the weakest point.” He looked at the general and the two colonels. “And we’re out of explosives?”
“Plenty of frags,” said Gus. “Some shoulder mounted launchers, but nothing that would stop an army coming across there if they build pontoons.”
“Units?”
Gus pointed at the map. “Five platoons. Two at the forward posts, one at the fallback position, which is in and around the old capitol building, and two guarding this fortress. Around two hundred soldiers in total… not counting your kind.”
