Escape To Vampire Dam (Dark Heart Heroes Book 1)

by S. N. McKibben

  His voice was the desert wind speaking to me. He started coughing and I looked in horror as the man shoved his fist into his mouth.

  Filthy hands emerged from the darkness around him, grabbing at his mouth and throat.

  His eyes bulged. Air escaped his nose but it seemed everyone, including him, was frantic to stifle the noise.

  Others were down there. I didn't know how many.

  I stepped away and went for my pack-back.

  Details could make or break a plan. This was something a soldier like Jason would think of, but not a civilian like me.

  I scanned the area. No bushes, no rocks, no trees to tie a fifteen foot rope ladder. How was I going to get them out?

  Another roar echoed down the tunnel. Jason.

  A screech met the challenging bluster. Perennials.

  I hoped he made those Perennials pay.

  Jason's howl echoed from the tunnel and from underneath. The earth rumbled. Dirt gave way, sinking in, tearing apart until the divide made its own personal pathway to the devil.

  One branch was perfect and I hoisted the branch over my shoulder. This one would have to hold.

  Avoiding crevices of hell, I dropped the branch down and rolled it over the opening. I looped the rope ladder over the log. The Y at the end of the log would keep it from turning and the knots in the wood held the holes in the ladder. Everything was in place. I scanned the clearing. No zombies. I threw the rest of the rope down expecting a torrent of bodies climbing. Rats climbing out of water came to mind.

  Instead, people shuffled and children started racing to the top.

  The humanity of these people welled my heart for the human race and my vision blurred.

  A tiny thing dressed in a twenty pound sugar sack, about the age of five, was the last child. Grabbing her hand, I made sure not to squeeze too hard and I helped her up. She squinted and covered her eyes from the sun.

  “Wow. It’s as beautiful as papa told me.” She scanned the area.

  I choked. “Where’s your parents?”

  “Minna.” A woman dressed in scraps of tied together cloth her held out her arms for Minna, the little Sugar-sack.

  Adults started climbing out.

  I knelled down to Minna. “Do you know a boy named Yiran?”

  Her eyes grew wide. “Yes.”

  My heart sunk. I’d watch twenty or so children his age race up the rope. I didn’t see Yiran.

  “You’re Noir? His mom?” Minna’s sorrowful face looked much older than five.

  Tears welled in my eyes. I nodded.

  “He said to tell you he loves you very much and that he knew you’d come.”

  But obviously too late. The lump in my throat prevented the question I wanted to know. There were people here who needed help and guidance. All of them milled around waiting for everyone to get out. I stopped counting at seventy-five but there were more.

  “I’m the last.”

  A scrawny man with a cloth bandage over his left eye made his way into the sun. He wore torn jeans and not much else. “You’re Yiran’s mother, Noir?”

  I lifted my chin. “Where’s my son?”

  The man swore. “Call me Pirate Steve. I’m sorry. Yiran saved our lives.”

  I would not cry. If Yiran thought these people were worth saving, then I wasn’t going to let his name become lost in this zombpocolypse. “What happened?”

  First-face walked up. His voice sounded as curmudgeon as his expression. “I managed to get the fool out once but he came back. Said he sent a message.”

  Pirate Steve hissed. “Yiran gave us hope. I owe him, and therefore I owe you.”

  “Well, we shouldn’t be standing around we’ll attract—”

  “Zombies!” A shout from the crowd got people moving.

  From the east battle-worn zombies lumbered toward us. People scattered.

  “West!” Pirate Steve shouted. For a small guy he could carry a baritone.

  Gazelle couldn’t move as swift as these people. Everyone started running towards the Big Paw Den. Children piggy backed on adults. I slung my pack back on and started beating feet with Pirate Steve beside me.

  Zombies gained.

  "Roger! Danwell! Limbo!" Pirate Steve shouted.

  He and I were last, and would be first to become zombie bait. But I was going to fulfill Yiran's promise to these people. I would get them to Vampire Dam if it killed me.

  People funneled through wide twin trees. Two dirt clodded and painfully thin teenagers held opposite ends of one sturdy branch above their hands.

  When Pirate Steve and I passed the boys I looked back and saw them lower the branch and run for the zombies.

  "We have to go back for them." I grabbed Pirate Steve's arm.

  "They'll be fine." Pirate Steve growled.

  I looked back and he was right. They cut the zombies down by using the branch as a pole. Steve's reference to "limbo" made sense now.

  "Where are we going?" Pirate Steve tugged me along.

  "To the river and then south." If we made it that far. My legs burned. Thick strips of air being raked through my lungs dried out my mouth. If I had to run back to Vampire Dam, I wouldn't make it.

  Those erie domes came into view. "Turn south!" I squeaked.

  "Turn South!" Pirate Steve relayed my instructions more effectively. The people in front of us turned. But some were headed straight for skin-walker territory.

  "Don't let them go in the village!" I told Pirate Steve.

  He cupped his mouth and called again.

  Minna, clinging to her mother's back, twisted her torso. Seeing us she tapped her mother and pointed left. The stragglers turned. I blew out a wheeze of relief.

  Pirate Steve turned south and I attempted to go with him, but came to skidding halt.

  My ass found dirt.

  Rattler dropped down from a tree and coiled himself in his perfectly poised and ready to strike pose.

  "Hello friend of Jaayyysssooon." His permanent smug smile curled up even more.

  "Rattler!" I leaned back on my palms. "Zombies!"

  His nose jerked up. The snake skin-walker hissed and leaped over me. I rolled to avoid his dragging belly.

  Pirate Steve held out a hand and I took it.

  We left behind a bear's roar, several dog-like snarls and a bird screech without looking back.

  "Get to the river." It was the best path to follow home. If we meandered too much to the west, we'd miss Vampire Dam's entrance.

  Pirate Steve hauled me over to the raft Jason and I used. Our original plan was to take it back, together, with Yiran.

  "Get on." Pirate Steve started unlooping the ropes anchoring my escape vehicle. "I'll send you off."

  He thought I was going to leave them. Like hell. I stayed his hand. "No."

  "You can warn them we're coming."

  "You go." I tried to push him onto the raft but he was as difficult as Jason and made of brick.

  "If me and mine can't all fit on the boat, then I'm not using it."

  "Then I'm traveling with you."

  "It'll be dark soon and those goddamn monsters will be after us. You need to go." Pirate Steve pushed me aside.

  "My son didn't leave you and neither will I." I started to jog south. If I wasn't on the raft, maybe he would use it.

  Pirate Steve cursed and jogged beside me. "I see where Yiran got his stubborn pride from."

  That only made me smile.

  We caught up to other survivors. My legs burned. They became dangling strips of pain and started to cease.

  First-face waited for us leaning on a tree while he waited. "How much further?"

  It took me a lot of restraint not to add, "Papa smurf" to the end of his question. First-face looked rather blue in complexion.

  "Another twenty miles." I lied. It was more like thirty.

  Pirate Steve leaned against the tree. "We shouldn't stop."

  "Yep." First-face said. "We need to keep going."

  They both stayed where they we
re. Moments passed. The other survivors weren't moving fast either. Everyone was slowing down. Light faded sometime between catching up with the other survivors and now.

  "Yep." Pirate Steve blew out a breath. "This is me not stopping."

  I laughed.

  Both men startled as if they hadn't heard laughter before. Some of the survivors looked back. Jesus. How long had they been down that hole with no hope of anything?

  "Come on." My protesting legs felt numb, but I went on. For Jason. For Yiran.

  Familiar screeches echoed in the dark. Perennials. Jason's sacrifice wasn't enough.

  "Run!" Pirate Steve howled.

  People moved.

  I was betting on a hunch, but we had nothing to lose. "Everyone across the water!"

  Pirate Steve relayed the instructions and soon people were splashing into a freezing river. Fuck! I hadn't thought about hypothermia. I was just trying to get the hell away from these monsters.

  I watched in horror as the true consequences came to light. Minna's little head bobbed below the water level. She didn't know how to swim. In fact none of the children knew how to swim and I'd just put them in a situation where they had to learn or die. The screeching got louder and I waded in neck level rapids. Pirate Steve was already helping non-swimmers and I breast-stroked towards Minna.

  "Dog paddle!" I pulled her head above water.

  She clung to me, scared and looking for her mother. Minna pointed and I saw her mother's hands clawing above water, but everything else of Minna's mom was under water. I got across and set Minna down to go back. I dove back into the water. The cold water bit into my skin painful as any physical teeth. When I got to the woman, I was expecting a panicking, wide-eyed cling-on and prepared for her to try and topple on top of me as drowning people do. Minna's mom did cling to me while coughing up a lung but she was more put together than the drowning person I expected. I was able to get us across the divide with the help of currents and my passengers’ calmness. Minna ran up to her mother and hugged her, then hugged me.

  "Thank you." Minna's mother stood naked on the banks. The sack bag she wore lay disintegrated on the ground. She didn't seem to care. Her focus was on Minna.

  I removed my wet back-pack and pulled my t-shirt over my head.

  "Here, put this on." I said and put the shirt on Minna's mother. At least it covered her up to her thighs. The poor thing was shorter than me and I couldn't stand up to claim a full five feet.

  Minna's sugar sack stood the tests of Poseidon--this time--but another round might do the "dress" in.

  "We have to keep moving." I slung my back-back on and pushed Minna into her mother's arms. Pirate Steve was glaring at me with a menacing eye while helping a teenage boy across.

  A Perennial shrieked and I got my first good look at one of these "Tasmanian devil's on crack". He wasn't furry or small but weasel did come to mind. Grey skin draped over bone dangled in curtain-like waves over its naked body. Dagger claws sprouted from his fingers. Its fangs dipped down past his lower lip. Hate glowed off its eyes. I wish I hadn't looked past his waist, but movement attracted my gaze down. His dick was built like the empire state building, only with teeth inside the urethra. The lower mouth snapped at me.

  "Oh my God!" I started running backward. My sore legs no longer complained.

  Multiple screeches echoed. Shit, more were coming.

  Ahead of me battle worn zombies moved towards the river swooping in French door style.

  "Back to the other side!" I screamed.

  People were already going back for a second round of swim or die.

  Pirate Steve paused long enough for me to see his one angry eye and helped the same teenager across to the other side.

  Turns out Perennials hated zombies and the feeling was mutual. Hopefully, they'd keep each other busy for a while.

  Shrieks faded. Everyone seemed to make the second trip back to the other side.

  Pirate Steve jogged up alongside of me. "Next time you want to use my people for an ambush, you tell me."

  My face flushed.

  "She did right." First-face hobbled alongside us.

  "I should've known the plan." Pirate Steve snapped.

  "Plan?" I huffed. "I'm flying with duct tape and bubble gum string."

  That got a snort from Pirate Steve. "How much further?"

  Papa smurf. "We'll make it." My conviction came from Yiran's sacrifice. I would not fail him.

  "How did he die?" I shocked myself for wanting to know about my son's death. The knowledge might be too much to handle after seeing those things.

  Pirate Steve remained silent. His hands fisted.

  First-face answered. "They took him. No one returns when they remove us from the pens."

  "What was it like?" I whispered.

  "You saw them." Pirate Steve spat.

  Yeah, I did, squirming penis and all. My shoulders shuddered.

  I looked over at Pirate Steve. Since the water washed away most of the dirt, I noticed scars on his face, chest, belly, arms and legs. They reminded me of scars I'd seen on Kabal, the human leader of Vampire Dam. Pirate Steve was messed up something fierce.

  He caught me looking and smiled. "You should see the other guy."

  "Perennial?" I asked, but it was clear he suffered from those monstrous claws.

  He nodded.

  I didn't have the stomach to ask anything more and kept going.

  We walked so far I felt like a zombie. I fell forward and Pirate Steve caught me.

  "Come on, no dying on me now." He tucked me under his arm and held me close. It made me miss Jason. He'd fling me over his shoulder and cave-man it all the way back. Right now, if he were here, I'd curl around his neck and sleep upside down on top of his shoulders. I couldn't feel my limbs any more. One step in front of the other became my motto.

  "What the hell you have in this pack?" Pirate Steve tried to strip it off but I shook my head.

  "My flashlight and water."

  A straight-lined horizon reflected the full moon's light. Only man-made concrete reflected like that.

  "It's there!" I pointed to Vampire Dam. We had another mile to go.

  Those who heard me perked up.

  Behind us, shrieks filled the air.

  "Fuck!" Pirate Steve gritted out.

  "Tell them to stay by the river, the entrance is on the east side." I tugged out from Pirate Steve's arm.

  "Run!" He grabbed my hand and we started herding everyone.

  First-face ran off to the front and started directing people east.

  From watching him run I knew Pirate Steve could book-ass, but he always remained behind the slowest person and I stayed with him.

  "Let me guess," I puffed for air even at the slow pace. "You're a marine."

  Pirate Steve smirked and appraised me with his one good eye. "I can tell you this." He waved his hand in front of him. "Every single one of them would pass the corps."

  To live with the monsters chasing us, they'd have to be tuff.

  Perennials shrieked and the noise was closer. Way closer than from five seconds ago.

  Calif was the prepared type who knew what was going on in his forest, if we got to the bridge, we'd be fine.

  Minna's wide eyes stared behind me. That kind of horror on a little girls face ripped chunks off my tattered heart.

  I got yanked by my pack-back. My Brite-lite pressed between ground and my spine through the thin padding. I prepared to fight, but there was no opponent.

  Perennials leaped over me. Ignoring me. Treating me as an obstacle to get around.

  I sat up.

  Minna was crouched, burying her head against a tree, tears streaming her eyes.

  Her mother was on the ground and one of the Perennials was on top of her.

  Of all the sick things I'd ever seen, this made me truly, irrevocably angry.

  It held her down while its ass pumped.

  My hands shook as I tore at my back-pack and gripped my Brite-lite.

  Toss
ing the pack, I walked behind the Perennial and lifted my favorite weapon above my head.

  "No." Pirate Steve stayed my down swing. "He has a hold of her on the inside. We need something else."

  I shuddered thinking about the lower "mouth".

  Minna's mother lay motionless, staring off, away from reality. Drowning, for her, might have been a mercy.

  "What the fuck do we do?" This wasn't acceptable. I wasn't going to let this continue for another five seconds.

  Pirate Steve grabbed a branch resembling a club, gathered dried foliage then took off his bandana that covered his eye and wrapped the whole mess around the club. His eye lid dropped down but not enough to close the gap. That eye was gone. Puss leaked out the crack. I looked away.

  "Do your batteries have any charge?" He tied the bandage caked with dried green puss on the club.

  I smiled. I knew exactly what he was going to do. Cooper wire touching the expose metal of a battery made instant fire. I unscrewed the end, took out the "D" cell, reached in my pocket and produced wire necessary to make the spark.

  His one good eye shined in approval.

  I touched wire to battery on the make-shift torch and fire consumed the mixture of gauze and leaves.

  Pirate Steve smiled in both glee and malice at the growing flame. He turned and stuck the club up the Perennials ass.

  A howl that could make your ears bleed pierced the night. Just as I'd seen Frazier go up in smoke, so did this creature. A flaming streak ran towards water.

  Pirate Steve laughed, mad-scientist style and rushed over to the next victim.

  Minna's mother laid there while Minna crawled over to her mother.

  "He's gone." Minna tugged at her mother's shoulders.

  I crouched down beside the little girl and stroked her mother's hair. "Come-on almost there."

  Minna's mother blinked herself back into awareness.

  Holy shit. Pirate Steve was right. They’d do fine in the Marine Corps.

  Once fully back, she cuddled her daughter.

  I wanted to ask if she was okay.

  No, she wasn't okay. I wasn't okay. Minna wasn't okay. Pirate Steve barked out another one of those creepy maniacal laughs and it cultivated the vengeful part of my soul. Another streak of fire headed for water and I almost joined Pirate Steve in his glee.