by Alex Dire
Norman felt as if all his guts flowed out from the tear in his stomach. He tried to scream, but the pain seized every part of him, even his voice. His vision began to tunnel. Felicia whimpered nearby, scurrying for her knife.
Cornelius appeared a silhouette against the glow of the predawn sky: a perfect soldier, the moment before a kill. The moment seemed to freeze in time. Is this what it’s like to die?
Then Norman’s vision began to fail. He saw double. Instead of one stake, it appeared Cornelius had two. Would it hurt twice as much?
Norman struggled to remain conscious. Then Cornelius lowered one of the stakes. Something was wrong. Even his double vision was faulty. Norman wiped the sweat and blood from his eyes. Cornelius did not hold two stakes. He held one. The other was not a stake at all, but a Javelin. A wolf toothed tip stuck out of Cornelius’ hip and the other end jutted out of his shoulder.
In the next moment, Cornelius’ stake wielding arm fell to the ground. Norman’s eyes began to clear as his innards started healing. Cindy stood next to Cornelius, with her Samurai sword held above her head. She slashed again and blood spurted from Cornelius’ throat. Declan ran up from somewhere in the melee and swung his hammer. Cornelius’ head exploded in a short burst of light. Before his body hit the ground, a cracking sound rang out. A projectile had pierced a hole in Cornelius’ back. As his body hit the pavement, the hole erupted in a yellow glow. Light streamed from Cornelius’ orifices and cracks in his body.
Darius rushed up to the badly wounded soldier and stomped on what remained of his head, smashing bones and brain into a radius of gore. “That’s for Keon.” He then spit on the mass of damaged flesh that had been Cornelius.
Cindy reached out and helped Norman up.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he said.
“Nice to see you, too, Mr. Bernard.”
Declan lifted Felicia up and inspected her hand. He poked at the flattened digits. “Does it hurt?”
She snatched her hand away. “Ouch. Yes!”
Norman stood with what used to be his tutoring group. Felicia, Declan, Tyreese, Darius and Cindy all looked to him once more.
“What now, Mr. Bernard?” said Felicia. He could feel the burning in her.
“We need to get you safe,” he replied.
None of them responded. They didn’t need to. He couldn’t keep them safe forever. The fight wasn’t over, and they needed to be a part of it. Norman looked at the sizzling body of Cornelius, the invincible warrior who, moments ago was an instant away from ending Norman forever.
He looked back to each of the Nymphs, their fists clenched around their special weapons. They had become strong. In all this chaos, he beamed with pride. “Thank you.”
“For what?” asked Cindy.
Felicia smiled. She knew. He couldn’t hide his feelings from her. He had become so used to keeping them safe and saving their lives, he almost didn’t recognize it when they had done the same for him. Now he did and burning pride gripped him. Ready? They’d have to be.
“We need to get into the White House. Corps. V soldiers are already making their way in.
31
It's Not Easy Being Green
Norman scanned the combat for his companions. The Corps. V had begun to organize themselves into smaller fighting units, and the wolves and protesters struggled to maintain the chaos. Small squads now broke away and advanced on the White House. They moved fast as the machine gun fire rained down on them from the roof. Grenades also began to explode around the White House lawn.
Norman made out Georgios and MacManus fighting back to back, slashing and kicking at the soldiers around them. Rae and two wolves fought off a soldier with a long stake. “We need them.”
He began to move back into the combat to help his friends. His body had healed enough to rejoin the fray.
“No time!” shouted Rufus. He stood with a groan. “We need to move now.”
Norman realized Rufus was right. If they were going to get into the White House and make any difference, it would have to be now. It might already be too late. Enough Corps. V had already trickled in to take out any security inside.
“Okay,” said Norman. “Follow me. Stay close.”
“No,” replied Rufus. “They’ll take us out all at once. We need to fan out and come in from all sides. They’ll have to divide their fire.”
Norman was glad for his warrior friend’s expertise.
“You two go up the left flank.” He pointed to Norman and Felicia “You,” he said indicating Tyreese and Cindy. “Take the right. “
“What about me?” said Darius. “You and Declan are coming with me. Right up the center.”
“Of course,” replied the class clown from another lifetime.
“Ready?” shouted Rufus.
Norman nodded back.
However, the moment before Rufus blurted his command to charge, a sudden burning seared the back of Norman’s neck. He turned to see a point of light peak over the horizon.
His small squad of friends smoldered in the rays of the rising sun.
“Get cover!” shouted Rufus.
Smoke rose from various points around the battle as the protesters burned in the sunlight.
Norman and the others ran for the side of Lafayette Square and slid under cars parked along Jackson Place. How long could they last under there?
Many of the protesters did the same. Frank joined Norman and Felicia under their car. A flaming Georgios managed to crawl under after them as well. There was barely enough room to shade them all.
The wolves remained and fought on their own against the superior numbers.
A few protesters got caught up in the combat and couldn’t pull away. Their screams told the price they paid.
“This isn’t working,” said Frank. “When do the reinforcements show up?”
Norman remembered the whole purpose of this battle. They hadn’t come to save the president. They had come to delay the Corps. V army from reaching the White House. They had put all their hopes in Nebulous and Georgios’ mixture.
Norman stretched his neck and moved his head as close as he could to the edge of the car without getting burned. He searched the crowd of vampires and werewolves from ground level. Many soldiers lay about grasping at wounds in their bodies. Piles of flesh and fur also lay strewn about.
But Norman was looking for something else. In the light, he could make out the details of each individual much better. He scanned the exposed skin of each soldier he saw. Searching for that pale green.
Finally, he found it. A tiny splash of pale green wrestling with a wolf who’d leapt on his back and bit into his neck. He shook the wolf off and turned to face it. The soldier’s hue had darkened. He stopped fighting and looked at his own hands. In the light he was able to notice the difference. Others around him began to notice as well. Some who’d started forming small squads to advance on the White House stopped and stared. A radius formed around the vampire. As the sun shone on him his skin turned a deeper green.
He looked at his skin, puzzled, and turned to the sun.
Even the wolves paused. Apparently, they’d never seen a green vampire either.
The fighting had completely stopped to take in the spectacle.
Norman’s forehead beaded with sweat as he waited for…for what? Would he burst into flames, revert to a normal vampire? He had no way to know how the mutagenic compound delivered by the virus would affect the vampire. Clearly, it had some affect. His color had turned a rich dark green in the sun.
The green vampire closed his eyes. He seemed to bask in the sunlight.
What's happening? Norman hoped that he would explode any moment now.
The vampire opened his eyes just as his wolf opponent leapt once more, breaking the truce. The vampire caught the wolf by the throat and held it high in the air. He then whisked it away. It flew a tremendous distance, disappearing several blocks away behind buildings.
Other soldiers stood, mouths agape at the stren
gth of their comrade.
“What’s happened to you?” shouted a Corps. V.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “But I like it!”
He walked through the crowd which parted to make way, stopping at the car next to the one Norman hid under. The green beast lifted the car into the air holding it above his head. Then he hurled it at the White House. It sailed through the air, crashing into the roof, taking out one of the machine gun nests. The green monster roared with joy.
Something had gone horribly wrong.
“What’s going on, Georgios?” said Norman.
“My mushrooms never did that,” he replied. “I think we’ve made a huge mistake. His body seems to be absorbing the energy of the sun. It hasn’t made him more vulnerable. The chloroplasts have made him more invincible.”
More invincible. Norman looked up at the giant green thing as his last desperate hope fled him. The urge to flee flitted through his mind. Then it died. What was the point? Skeete's monsters would crush them all before the sun even came up.
Then the atmosphere erupted in ear-shattering chaos. Rapid machine gun fire and helicopter rotors roared overhead. Bullets impacted all around, sending chucks of concrete and lead spraying everywhere. The car above Norman shook from all the impacts. Vampires and wolves burst with blood, flesh and fur as the massive fury of ammunition carpeted the street.
Explosions erupted in various places around the scurrying vampire battalion. The army had arrived.
Norman peeked out as the Corps. V were torn down by bullets, healed and stood up. The wolves that survived the onslaught scattered.
The green Corps. V took the bullets better. His wounds healed much more quickly now.
Attack helicopters buzzed overhead, strafing with machine guns and launching air to ground missiles. As one flew over the green vampire's head, he leapt and grabbed a piece of its landing gear. His weight caused the vehicle to tilt and spin. The tail scraped the ground, knocking off pieces of metal. The rotor then tipped to the ground cracking it to pieces and sending the whole vehicle smashing to the pavement on its side.
The pilot and crew attempted to climb out, but the vampire lifted the crippled chopper over his head and hurled it into the sky. It smashed into another helicopter and both spun to the ground in a metallic embrace ending in a huge plume of flame as they exploded.
“What have I done?” said Georgios.
The field of combat grew silent. The surviving wolves all fled. The two helicopters were down. Norman and his friends were trapped under cars, pinned down by light. Nothing stood in the way of the Super Corps. V army.
“Shit,” said Frank. “This could not get any worse.”
Then, in the distance, Norman heard a buzzing sound. He peeked from under the car and saw hundreds of tiny specks flitting low through the air toward him like insects.
“It’s about to get worse,” replied Norman.
“Are those drones?” asked Georgios.
“Nebulous has arrived.”
32
Cavalry
Norman lay helpless underneath a car with Felicia, Georgios, and Frank. The small frame barely protected them from the rising sun. This situation couldn’t last the day. Eventually, a Corps. V would lift the car, and they’d all burn to a crisp. Norman scanned at ground level for his students and the others. They had all fled at the same time and hid under nearby cars. He saw Rae under a pick-up down the street. She looked on helplessly as well. Norman waved attempting to catch her eye without drawing the attention of the Army that reformed its columns just a few feet away.
She responded with a quizzical look.
Norman whispered the words with exaggerated mouth movements. “Tell Matt to call off the drone strike.”
She raised her palms up in misunderstanding.
“She can’t hear you,” said Felicia. “You’ll have to shout.”
“If I shout, we’re exposed. And we’re all dead,” Norman replied.
“Then we have to get to her,” said Felicia. “I’ll go.”
“You won’t make it half way there.” Norman had to stop those drones, but there was no way he'd send Felicia on a suicide mission. They were stuck. Pinned down by light. And their own cavalry was about to make their enemies even stronger.
The buzzing sounds drew louder as the fleet of drones approached Lafayette square. Norman looked out at them again.
“What are they going to do?” asked Felicia.
“I’m thinking they’re going to deliver Georgios’ mixture to the Corps. V.”
“Make more of those green things,” said Felicia.
Norman looked back to Rae. She remained puzzled.
“I’ll go,” he said. “It’s now or never. If they turn this army into those things…” his thought traded off. The conclusion was obvious.
“You’ll fry, Mr. Bernard. You said so yourself.”
“No choice,” he replied. If I can get near enough before I collapse, perhaps they can drag me the rest of the way. Hard to tell.”
“No!” said Felicia.
“Now or never.” Norman looked to the car down the block. His heart raced as his instincts screamed for him to avoid swimming in that sea of pain, that agony of sunlight. He raised himself onto his fists and shuffled to the edge of the car’s undercarriage. He hesitated in anticipation of the mortal pain he was about to charge into. Few things hurt like every molecule of your body igniting with flame.
In that instant of pause, he smelled it. That smell that used to nauseate him, but now stirred mixed emotions. Dog.
The wolf poked its nose around the base of the car. It lowered its head enough for Norman to see the deep blue pools in its eyes.
“Juda!”
Juda squatted on all fours and looked from face to face under the car.
“Juda, we need your help.”
The wolf whined. Then Norman saw that blood soaked the fur around its neck. Norman reached over and rubbed the fur. It was warm and wet. However, he had no clue about canine anatomy, how bad the wound was.
“Can you get to Rae under that car over there and give her a message? Tell her to get Matt on the phone. Call off the drone strike.”
Juda panted as if waiting for more.
“Trust me. If they inject those soldiers with the Georgios’ gene splices, it’s over.”
Juda closed his mouth and ran to the next car. Norman watched the park to see if he’d been noticed. The combat had petered out and the Corps. V had reformed their lines. A barely healed Cornelius barked orders as they began their march to the White House. Suddenly, Cornelius fell silent. He craned his neck around, searching the skies. Then he saw them. The drones buzzing his way. He pointed up and his wonder spread through the rest of the formation.
In the next car over, Juda had changed into his human form and lay, naked, next to Rae. She had the phone up to her ear and was speaking with obvious agitation.
Above, the drones had nearly reached the newly reformed army. In moments, they would let loose whatever Nebulous had equipped them for. This was all going wrong. Instead of intercepting and incapacitating the super Corps. V army, they were about to enhance them, make them not only immune to the sun, but able to absorb and use its energy.
Down the street Rae tapped her phone off and turned to Norman. She shrugged her shoulders. Had she succeeded?
Norman looked back up. The drones hovered over the square. Was Nebulous calling them off? Why weren’t they doing anything?
“I think it worked,” said Norman. “They’re just hovering there.”
“Why aren’t they leaving?” asked Felicia.
Norman answered with silence as he wondered the same thing. “Maybe they’re monitoring.”
“What’s our next move?” said Georgios.
Then a high-pitched whine mingled with the buzzing sounds of the rotors. The crescendo ended with hundreds of tiny pops. Sparks flew from each of the drones and rained downward. Small darts shot down from each drone. The soldiers clutched
various parts of their bodies as if bitten by some carnivorous insect. They held their hands up to cover themselves from the piercing rain only to be stung in the hands. They pulled the darts out and threw them to the ground. One skidded and landed next to Norman’s car.
He eyed it from underneath. “Georgios, what do you make of that?”
“It looks like they’re injecting the virus with those things.”
“How long before they turn?”
“Not too long. The sun’s up now.”
Norman watched with helpless frustration as Nebulous delivered the death blow to all vampiredom and possibly to the whole world as well. Norman had succeeded in making Skeete and her minions powerful beyond her own dreams. Even if he could get out from under the car, there wasn’t much he could do about it. He was pinned down, outgunned and surrounded.
He turned to Frank. “Now, it couldn’t get much worse.”
At the edge of his hearing, Norman heard the screeching of tires approaching the park. Perhaps more military vehicles arrived at the scene. Norman pitied them. They didn’t stand a chance. They had no idea what they were up against. Norman barely grasped it himself.
He peered through the confused regiment to see a black van speed along the side of the park. It came to a sudden stop and its side door opened up. Several long tubes protruded from the open door. Sparks and flames shot out of them as they shot something into the crowd. Canisters landed at several spots around the formation and a dark gas sprayed out, shrouding the army in a thick smoke. Norman lost view of the van but heard its wheels screech amid the coughing and confusion of the Corps. V. Army.
He listened as its engines approached his location. The air grew thicker with the smoke. Norman could see almost nothing as it wafted over and covered his car.
The tires of the van screeched to a halt right next to Norman’s hiding spot. The door slid open again and two feet hit the ground outside the van.
