‘Eddy, I don’t think we can survive like this for much longer,’
Eddy looked at him, ‘What else can we do?’
Jake considered the question carefully.
‘Well we were thinking…’ but before he was able to say more a low call went up. The watched people below panic. Unloaded boxes spilled from the carts as the people broke the line. Max sprinted across the open ground and clambered up to where Jake and Eddy were watching. Deliberately ignoring Jake, he questioned Eddy.
‘What’s up?’
‘The watchman on the West side has spotted something,’ Eddy said, his face creased with concern.
Max sprinted off toward the edge of the building, then scrambled up a rusting fire escape towards where the first watchman was standing. As he reached him he grabbed the night-vision binoculars from him, without asking, and peered through them.
‘What is it?’ he asked.
‘Search and Destroy party,’ the watchman replied still in shock.
‘Where,’ Max hissed.
The watchman indicated the general direction. ‘About a mile out, just crossing the Williamsburg bridge…around two dozen men.’
Max scanned the horizon. ‘Shit! That means we’re cut off. I count twenty riders and…’ he took the binoculars away from his eyes slowly, ‘…and one vampire.’ He finished.
The watchman nodded, he looked physically sick. Ignoring him, Max glanced round, quickly doing the math.’
‘A mile out, travelling at say eight to ten miles an hour... it’ll take them around twelve minutes to get here,’ he spoke to himself. Checking his watch, he tossed the glasses back to the watchman. ‘Keep an eye on them. If they pick up speed let me know.’
‘But shouldn’t we be moving to a shelter?’
Max shook his head. ‘No, I think it’s time we stopped running.’
Chapter 12
No Turning Back
On Brooklyn Queen’s Expressway the sound of hooves clattered on the pavement as over twenty horses trotted up the street. Nothing but wasteland surrounding them, half-flattened buildings all that remained of the war ravaged structures.
The Mayor jiggled uneasily on his horse. He sat third in line. To his left Jackson checked his shotgun for at least the tenth time, which didn’t add to the Mayor’s sense of calm, whilst Josiah re-adjusted the two ammo belts that crisscrossed over his shoulders.
At the rear of the group, Tolon surveyed his surroundings. Every so often he’d stop and cast for scent in the air. A few seconds later he spurred his horse up past the other riders until he drew level with the Mayor.
‘You said your men came across evidence of a human settlement when they were out here last, how far now?’
‘A little way ahead, four, maybe five blocks up through Vinegar Hill’ replied the Mayor.’
The vampire sniffed the air again.
‘We’ll travel the last part on foot.’ He slapped the Mayor’s stomach hard. ‘It’ll do you good!’
In a derelict building off to their right, where broken glass hung defiantly in the window frame, an unseen figure watched the approaching vampires, a silver blade spinning expertly between his fingers.
In the derelict industrial yard, Nathan watched as Jake and Max stood facing each other, anger had flared between them again.
‘You’re mad’ shouted Jake.
‘Why?’ replied Max.
‘What do you mean why? They have a vampire with them, in full battle dress, with body armour, and you’re asking me why?’
‘We can take them. It’s the last thing they’re going to expect … ’
‘… For a really good reason, it’s suicide.’
‘It just means they’ll be over confident. Look we have twelve of our own men, Eddy has another forty; all armed.’
On the other side of the yard Eddy was embroiled in a hushed, but clearly equally difficult conversation with his own men. Nathan looked between them and Jake and Max.
‘What about the women and children?’ Jake continued.
‘They’ll be safe in the factory.’
‘But Eddy’s men, they’re not soldiers,’ reasoned Jake.
‘No. But they do have motivation. They want revenge.’
‘Max. If we don’t antagonize them they’ll leave us alone. We should only fight as a last resort,’ Jake pleaded
Maybe that was right in the past, but not now. Everything’s changed. Wake up and smell the roses Bro. They’re not coming out here for the night air. They have a vampire with them. It’s a search destroy party, and you know it. This is the last resort.’
Max grabbed Jake by the arm. ‘Stop being such a coward, we can do this, we can take them.’
Jake shook his arm free. ‘Max, no one has been able to kill a vampire for over twenty years, not since you and - ’
‘- Then maybe it’s time that changed.’ Cut in Max. Anyway, unless it’s escaped your notice, we’re pretty much trapped here, that is unless you fancy a swim?’
Jake turned to Nathan, who had now joined them after listening thoughtfully,
‘Jake, Max has a point. I don’t see we have anywhere else to go.’
Tolon and the search and destroy party had now reached Washington Avenue. Tolon had taken up the lead. He held up his hand, bringing the others to a halt. He spat on the ground. ‘I smell humans,’ he hissed with a smile.
The Mayor’s head jerked left and right, not sure if Tolon really could smell them, or was just trying to create an effect, whatever the truth he succeeded.
‘Are your men ready?’ the vampire hissed.
Mayor Cooper swallowed hard and just nodded.
In the derelict Brooklyn Naval Yard, with the decision to fight taken, Nathan was now giving orders. All around, women with small children hurried into hiding whilst an assortment of old guns was passed out to the varied and dishevelled group of men, women and teenage boys that formed the remainder of their small community. Jake and Eddy stood over Max who was now kneeling in the dirt with a large knife in his hand. They watched as he drew the road they came along in the dirt.
‘We came in on Jay Avenue,’ Max made another mark in the dirt. ‘They’ll join either here, or most likely cut down Assembly Road. Either way it’ll take them to the hammerhead. That’s where we’ll hit them. Now, in addition to the vampire, there are twenty men to deal with.’
‘That’s the easy bit’ cut in Jake.
‘Agreed… the key is to take the men out as swiftly as possible.’ Max tapped the earth with the blade. ‘This is where we’ll be, on Kay. Eddy…’ he looked up, ‘This…’ he tapped the dirt again ‘...is where you’ll hold your men. When the vampire gets to here, the decoy team will open fire from Railway Avenue. Then, when they enter the hammerhead, you’ll open fire from their left, taking cover from these two buildings.’
Max waved his knife at the two corner buildings where watchmen were still intently scanning the roads in.
‘We’ll need to lay down as much gunfire as possible, you, from the left, us from their right.’
Nathan appeared beside the men and Jake couldn’t help but notice how out of breath he was.
‘Okay, the crossfire will get the men, but what about the vampire?’ he asked.
‘We’ll need to keep the pressure on,’ replied Max.
‘But no one’s ever managed to kill one of them,’ whispered Eddy in a small voice.
Max looked up at Nathan and Jake, ‘Oh they have,’ he said, ‘it’s just not that easy. They’re ten times stronger than us, move faster than us and can regenerate and heal real quick. More than that, their hearts are smaller than ours and their blood pumps from the back of the heart…’ he touched his chest, ‘…from the top and bottom, and all that pluming is protected by a wall of bone as hard as steel.’ He tapped his own chest again. ‘But… kill their heart and they die just like anything else.’
‘Really?’ questioned Eddy, doubt written large on his face as he absently ran the rosary through his fingers.
Eddy glanced at Max, and then turned instead to face Jake. ‘Is that true?’ he asked, his eyes fixed on Jake’s.
Jake hesitated for a second, ‘Yes...’ he replied as he threw a glance at Max, an edge of despair on his face ‘...but Max is making it sound easy. As he’s said their bone structure is like iron, and the armour they wear, well it’s not for show. They only had one real weakness, one fear… ultra violet light. The war took away the light and with it their fear, so now there’s only one way left to kill them… kill…’
‘The heart…’ murmured Eddy, ‘…so you mean, like use a stake, like in the old movies I remember as a kid?’
Jake laughed, despite himself. ‘Centuries ago, maybe, but only because that was probably the most effective weapon available then. Now we have guns, knives, so why use a stake?’
Max took his cigar out from the corner of his mouth and tossed it to one side.
‘So, we hurt it. Keep the pressure on, but we still have to get through the armour. Once we’ve done that...’ Max made an upward thrusting motion to Eddy’s ribs ‘… it doesn’t matter whether you use a gun, knife… or even a stake. If you kill its heart…’
Jake closed his eyes, in his mind he was once again that lost, lonely, little boy, desperately trying to protect his brother as he stared into the eyes of the beast as it was slain. He could hear the vampire scream its unearthly scream, as Trent twisted his knife deep into the creature’s heart.
He opened his eyes and watched Max stand and tap Eddy in the middle of his chest,
‘… It’ll die just like anything else,’ murmured Eddy. Max smiled and nodded.
‘What about the other creatures, the half vampires, whatever they are.’ Eddy asked with uncertainty in his voice.
It was Nathan who answered this time.
‘They were once human, before being infected by a vampire’s bite. We think the bite includes a virus, one that, if the vampire doesn’t choose to kill the person, turns them into neither a man, nor a vampire, what we call a half-ling. As far as we know these things can’t think for themselves, but are somehow controlled by one Master, usually the vampire that has turned them. All that matters to them are two things; firstly they have an overwhelming desire to protect their master, their creator if you will.... and secondly, to simply survive. However, in many ways, these half-lings are even more dangerous than the vampires themselves.
‘How do they control them?’ asked Eddy looking even more uncertain than before.
Nathan sighed, he was conscious of the time ebbing away, of a yet unseen enemy that was, as they spoke, getting closer and closer, but he also knew he had to explain to Eddy the reality of what Max was suggesting.
‘We think a vampire can only maintain a definitive number of these things at one time. They’re a kind of extension of the vampire that turned them. We presume that it’s these creatures that created the historic belief that once a human was bitten by a vampire they would, in turn, become a vampire themselves.’ He paused, ‘It’s funny how legends always have some element of truth in them, isn’t it?
‘How do you know all this,’ asked an incredulous Eddy.
‘I’ve seen it for myself,’ replied Nathan sadly.
Eddy stared at him, noting the sorrow in his eyes.
‘You have?’ he asked.
Nathan nodded, his own mind stretching back, his eyes losing focus.
‘Yes, he was my best friend.’
Images suddenly flashed through Nathan’s mind as he remembered watching his friend creep down an empty street late one night. He could remember the sounds, the smells. They’d drawn straws and Nathan was there to keep watch. They were both starving and had gone out after curfew in search of food. He had sensed something was about to go wrong, his friend had sensed it too. It happened as his friend walked into the open. They’d both heard the sound, both tensed, uncertainty seeping from every pore. Nathan watched as his friend checked over his shoulder. He wanted to call out, but was too afraid. Then they both heard the sound again, a kind of scuffling and before Nathan could shout a warning his friend started to run. It was then that he saw the vampire as it appeared, seemingly from out of nowhere. Nathan closed his eyes as his friend screamed.
Nathan spoke, his voice cracking as he continued.
‘We used to think that all vampires could create new vampires, but that simply doesn’t happen. When a vampire bites a human, it creates this…’ he hesitated, ‘…thing, neither man, nor vampire.’
‘If that’s true, how did the first vampire get created and what’s to stop then just dying out?’ Eddy questioned.
‘We’ve wondered that for ourselves and spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find out as much as we can about the way they are,’ continued Nathan calmly, ‘trying to discover their weaknesses. We’re not one hundred per cent sure, but as far as we can work out, from things we’ve been told, stuff we’ve heard, as well as things we’ve actually seen, it’s only the bite of the Queen who can create a new vampire. But a bite from any other…’
Again Nathan’s mind stretched back.
He’d watched the attack, frozen in the shadows, utterly impotent, torn between an overwhelming desire to try and save his friend, but knowing that it would simple be the cause of his own death as well. That’s what he told himself anyway. So instead, with his head ruling his heart he closed his eyes and kept still so as not to be discovered.
But for some reason the vampire had tired of the kill and just disappeared into the night, leaving Nathan’s friend for dead. Nathan had rescued him, or tried to at least. He’d cared for him for days, tended to the fever, not wanting to believe the worse, hoping that his friend would recover. Then it had happened. One night his friend had woken, somewhere in the abandoned house they shared with two others in the Vampire City. As if in a trance, Nathan had watched the thing; he didn’t know what else to call it as it smashed through the door with blood streaked hands and ended lying in the street. Something had stopped him from going to him, something deep down, and it had undoubtedly saved his life. Instead, he watched from the shadows of the house as his onetime friend lay still in the street. Then it suddenly looked round.
It was the eyes that he would never forget, yellowed and bloodshot, no longer able to hide the madness behind them. To the creature, for that was now what he had become, sounds were amplified and colours were brighter. Nathan watched the thing as it convulsed, bent double, as pain racked through him. For a second those yellowish, mad eyes locked on him for one last time and he knew that anything left of his once best friend had died forever.
Trent took a breath. ‘It can take a few days, sometimes more, for the change to happen, it seems to depend on how bad the bite is.’
Jake could see how difficult this memory was for Nathan; he looked much older to him and weaker than he ever had done before. He automatically reached out a hand and squeezed his shoulder; Nathan didn’t look at him as he continued with his story.
‘However, through the infection they inherit some of the vampire’s strength. They seem to be incapable of feeling any pain and they fight like a pit-bull. They will fight to the death… That’s all they know. That’s how they survive and why they’re almost as dangerous as the vampires themselves, perhaps even more so.’
Nathan’s eyes closed as the final image of what was left of his friend seared into his mind’s eye and…
…he saw his friend’s face
, in the street, in the Vampire City, his eyes were yellow, his teeth longer; even his face had changed. He stood and smashed through another doorway. No pain registered as it searched, sniffing, for its next meal.
Eddy swallowed as Nathan finished the story. A heavy silence had descended on the small group, a silence that was broken by Max as he whispered to them.
‘It’s time to party, gentlemen.’
Chapter 13
The Consequences
At the same time, in the Royal Chamber in what, since the War, had become the Vampire city, Rodan and Keermit knelt before the Queen. The room had an overbearing dank smell that pervaded their senses. Rodan kept his eyes fixed firmly on the floor; he knew how unstable the Queen was and how careful he needed to be, not sure how she would react to his news.
‘So,’ asked the Queen, ‘you think Karick will fail in this task?’
‘We of course hope that will not be the case, my Lady,’ replied Rodan silkily, ‘all we are saying is that if he should...’
The Queen considered this, looked down at them both as they knelt at her feet, and then she smiled and provided them with the briefest of nods.
‘In that case, I agree.’ She said with a crashing finality that brought an unseen smile to Rodan’s lips.
On Assembly Road, the remains of the old industrial buildings rose up in front of Tolon and his party as they rode cautiously on towards where the Mayor’s team had previously found Eddy’s outpost. Tolon stopped and sniffed the air, held his hand up again. He turned toward the Mayor indicating that his men should split left and right.
The Mayor nodded, ushering Jackson and Josiah forward. Uncertain, each in turn beckoned their own team to join them as they walked slowly towards the deserted intersection.
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