CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
Robson heard the vampires approaching, only this time he anticipated the encounter. He had mentally prepared himself all day for this. Even Roberta had bolstered her courage, although he could tell by the tremble in her hands that she was still terrified of what would happen. As well she should be. The next ten minutes would be the most dangerous either of them had faced since the vampires had released the Zombie Virus against mankind. Yet they both agreed it had to be done. As the sound of the chains being removed from the handles echoed through the barn, Robson mouthed, “Are you ready?”
Roberta swallowed hard and nodded.
A moment later, the doors swung open. Light from the kerosene lamps bathed the interior of the barn, sending shadows dancing along the walls as the coven entered. Dravko was prepared for the verbal and most likely physical abuse he would suffer once Vladimir realized his captors were gone. The vampire’s eyes went wide with surprise when he saw the two humans sitting in the same spot he had left them the night before. Robson ignored him and focused his gaze on Vladimir.
The coven spread out in a semi-circle around Robson, with their backs to Roberta, and placed their kerosene lamps on the ground. They each stared at Robson, hatred for humans and a lust for violence in their eyes, especially from Corey, who sneered. Vladimir positioned himself in front of Robson, a sardonic grin on his face.
“I hope you enjoyed your last day as a human.”
“I slept most of it.” It took every ounce of courage Robson could muster to sound nonchalant.
“What a shame. You should have taken advantage of it. You’ll never see sunlight again.”
Robson shrugged. “I thought a condemned man would get a last meal.”
“I have given you a last meal.” Vladimir glanced over at Roberta and leered. He then crouched down in front of Robson. “And don’t think of it as being condemned. You’re being given an opportunity few humans have ever been offered, though that will change in the future.”
“The difference is that once you turn me, you’re going to leave me out here on my own to fend for myself or die.”
“Just as you did to me. It’s rather fitting, don’t you think?” Vladimir patted Robson on the leg and stood up. “Enough talk.”
“So this is it?” Robson asked.
“I’m afraid so.” Vladimir faced his coven. “Are you ready?”
The other vampires nodded or stretched their jaws, including Tibor, who had fought beside Robson for close to a year.
Dravko stepped back, moving away from the coven. “I won’t do it.”
“I didn’t think you would,” snorted Tibor.
Vladimir brushed off Dravko with a wave of his hand. “We’ll deal with you later.”
Dravko stepped forward to confront Vladimir. Tibor and Corey morphed into their vampiric forms and blocked his path. When Tibor and Corey moved toward him, Dravko backed off into the shadows. He looked over at Robson, his expression questioning why he and Roberta had not escaped when they had the chance. Vladimir grabbed Robson by his collar, yanked him to his feet, and dragged him to the center of the barn. The coven closed in around him, all except Dravko. Rather than resist, Robson stood his ground. The Master morphed into his vampiric form, bent his head at an angle, and plunged his fangs into Robson’s neck. Robson winced as the tips penetrated his skin, but refused to cry out or show pain. That became more difficult when the other vampires moved in to feed. Corey and Tibor held out his arms, each biting into a wrist. Vampires fed from each of his forearms, inner elbows, and upper arms. Linda and Gabrielle stepped up behind him and leaned forward, plunging their fangs into his shoulders. Robson felt his lifeblood being drained. He felt his pulse growing weaker and his respiratory rate increase.
He cast a glance over at Roberta.
* * *
More than anything, Roberta wanted to avert her gaze. She couldn’t allow herself that luxury. She crawled into a crouching position, doing so slowly so as not to draw attention to herself or the fact that her ankle had been freed from its shackle. When Robson glanced at her, she focused on his eyes. Once he had lost enough blood to slip into unconsciousness, she would act. Until then, she fought back the tears.
* * *
Dravko lowered his head to avoid witnessing Robson’s death. He had failed his coven, both as a vampire and as their leader. He had failed his human friends. Worst of all, he had failed himself. Dravko contemplated sneaking off while the rest of the coven were busy and heading north until the morning sun would end his existence. Maybe then—
An agonized scream came from the center of the barn.
* * *
Vladimir stepped back from Robson and clutched his chest. Over the centuries he had been shot, set on fire, and doused with holy water. Never had he experienced an agony as intense and crippling as this. The burning began in his stomach, ate its way through his veins, and spread through his body. The muscles in his chest and arms contracted violently, causing his upper body to twist and spasm. The skin on his hands darkened and shriveled, and the fingers bent in until his talons dug into his palms. As the pain raced up his neck, Vladimir’s throat constricted and his vision blurred. When the scorching sensation reached his head, the torment became unbearable. It felt as though his brain was melting. Memories and motor functions seared away, leaving behind an overpowering hunger. Falling to his knees, Vladimir howled in agony. He stared over in Robson’s general direction, unable to see him clearly through the murky gray cloud in his eyes. He tried to speak, his voice croaking out unintelligible sounds. Vladimir focused the remnants of his mental skills to ask one final question.
“Wha’ did ‘ou do to me?”
* * *
When Vladimir dropped to his knees and howled, the rest of the coven jumped away from Robson. He saw the uncertainty and fear in their eyes as they shifted their attention between him and the Master. Then Stamos clutched his abdomen and doubled over in pain. It struck Tamara a moment later. She tore through the skin on her chest trying to rid herself of the searing agony. Dizzy and confused from the loss of blood, Robson stepped back and propped himself against the central support.
“Wha’ did ‘ou do to me?” screamed Vladimir.
“I infected you with the Zombie Virus.”
“How?” Vladimir asked, the word so twisted and distorted it was barely recognizable.
“The vaccine Compton developed was derived from samples of the Zombie Virus. When I was inoculated, my blood was infected. And now, so are all of you.” Robson chuckled. “Kind of ironic, isn’t it? You wiped out the human race with the Zombie Virus, and I wiped out the vampire race with the vaccine.”
Vladimir struggled to stand, and instead fell over onto his back. In his mind, he ordered the coven to tear Robson apart. The command left his mouth as a gurgle. Not that it would have mattered. One by one, the other vampires succumbed to the virus, each too busy being consumed by the infection to have obeyed. Only Tibor and Corey had not yet begun the transformation. The two vampires lunged at Robson.
* * *
For a brief moment, Dravko thought things would be all right. With the rest of the coven dying off, he could sneak out and start over, and rebuild the vampire nation in the manner he and Elena had envisioned. That thought was short lived. Even though staying meant his own death, he could not allow a pack of zombie vampires to roam the countryside.
And he would not betray his friend again.
Dravko saw that Tibor and Corey were about to attack Robson. He launched himself across the barn and slammed into Tibor. Both men crashed against the opposite wall. Tibor came off the wood and swiped at Dravko with his right hand, the talons tearing across the Dravko’s face. Dravko fell back, stunned by the pain. Tibor lunged at him again, slashing half a dozen more times. Dravko felt the lacerations on his face open wider with each blow and the skull around his eye socket fracture. Tibor grabbed Dravko by the collar, spun him around, and slammed him face-first against the wall. He leaned in clo
se and snarled in Dravko’s face.
“I’ll be damned if I allow you to be the last vampire on Earth.”
Tibor bent his neck to bite Dravko and gasped. He fell back several paces and collapsed, clutching his gut. His body convulsed and twisted in a violent angle as the virus took hold, coursing through his veins and changing him from the undead into the living dead. Tibor’s skin discolored as decay set in. He turned his head in the direction he assumed Dravko stood, unable to see through the gray film covering his eyes. Tibor issued a final plea to his friend, the rotting brain making it slurred and disjointed.
“No let me be one of them.”
Dravko circled around behind Tibor. He would eventually kill Tibor, but not before offering his friend the same mercy Tibor would have showed him and Robson. Raising his foot, he slammed it down on each of Tibor’s ankles, shattering the bones so he could not walk. If Tibor felt any pain, he didn’t show it. He lay amongst the hay and thrashed around.
Dravko checked on Robson.
* * *
Linda had never felt anything as painful as this, including the other night when James had broken her jaw. She knew she would be dead in a few minutes. No, worse than dead. She would be one of the living dead. Linda tried to summon up the courage to stick her talons through her eyes and scramble her own brains.
She heard a commotion and lifted her head in time to see Dravko tackle Tibor to the other side of the barn, leaving Corey to face off against Robson by himself. Hatred seethed in her almost as painful as the infection. Robson had taken immortality from her before she could enjoy it, and had condemned her to an eternity of walking the Earth and feeding on human flesh. Now he stood with his back to her, only ten feet away. Her last conscious thought was that she could not let him live.
Pushing herself to her feet, Linda lumbered toward Robson.
* * *
Roberta struggled to stand, using the wall of the horse stall as support. Limping over to the nearest kerosene lamp, she picked it up and lifted it above her head to see. Most of the vampires were still turning, except for Dravko and Tibor, who battled in one corner of the barn. She found Robson against the center support, with Linda sneaking up behind him. She didn’t have time to go to his aid or warn him, which left only one option.
Roberta threw the lamp at Linda.
It crashed against the vampire’s chest and shattered, dousing her in kerosene. The fire from the wick ignited the fuel, engulfing her in flames. Linda howled. Throwing herself against the animal stalls on the opposite side of the barn, she slid to the ground and slumped forward. She tried to extinguish the flames until her muscles burned away. Linda’s body teetered for a moment before rolling to the side into a pile of dried hay.
The hay ignited.
* * *
When Dravko tackled Tibor out of the way, Robson focused his attention on Corey. The teenager paused, confused by both the transformation of those vampires around him and the sudden disappearance of Tibor. That second bought Robson the time he needed. Reaching down, he picked up the chain that had shackled him to the central post and twirled a length of it around both hands. The noise snapped Corey out of his daze. He snarled at Robson and lunged. The vampire had taken only a few steps when he stopped, clasping his arms tight against his chest to lessen the pain of the infection gnawing through his abdomen. Limping behind Corey on his one good foot, Robson looped the section of chain between his hands around the vampire’s neck and yanked his arms to the side, tightening it. Corey gagged and choked, too consumed by his transformation to fight back. Balancing himself on his good foot, Robson placed the knee of his bad leg between the vampire’s shoulder blades. Pushing down with his knee, he pulled back on the chains. Corey flailed his arms and reached back, clawing at Robson’s face. A cracking sound came from Corey’s neck, and his head tilted to one side. Robson loosened his grip on the chain. Corey collapsed face-first onto the barn floor, his head at an obscene angle. Although Corey’s body remained motionless, his mouth still snapped at Robson.
The sound of shattering glass behind Robson caught his attention. He glanced over his shoulder to see Linda burst into flames. That gave him an idea.
“Get Roberta out of here!” he yelled to Dravko. “Then use the lamps to set the others on fire.”
* * *
Dravko ran over to Roberta and scooped her up in his arms. Making his way through the coven, he carried the woman to the double barn doors and placed her outside. As she fought to steady her balance, Dravko closed one of the doors. He had closed the second one halfway when Roberta grabbed the edge and stopped him.
“I want to help,” she pleaded.
“You can.” Dravko bent over, picked up the chain that lay on the ground that Vladimir had used to secure the handles, and handed it to her. “Once I close these doors, lock us in.”
“No!”
“It’s the only way.”
Roberta nodded. “Then what should I do?”
“Get out of here as fast as you can.”
Dravko slammed the doors shut.
* * *
The vampires that still survived had only a few seconds left before they were completely transformed into rotters. Hobbling over to the lamps, Robson grabbed one in each hand and moved over to the closest vampire. Stamos raised his head and glared, any semblance of humanity having been replaced by the soulless mind of a rotter. Robson swung one of the lamps and smashed it across Stamos’ face, and then hobbled back as flames engulfed the vampire’s head. It snarled even as its tongue shriveled and its eyes exploded within their sockets. Dropping to the ground, it thrashed around until the heat cooked its brain.
Mia was next. She still knelt down, her body doubled over in agony. Robson smashed the lamp on the back of her neck. She never even attempted to stand as the burning kerosene poured down her back and over her head and shoulders, preferring the ultimate death to becoming one of the living dead. Robson limped away from the charred corpse to get two more lamps.
When Robson reached the closest lamp, something jumped him from behind, knocking him onto a pile of hay and pinning him. He fell on top of a pitchfork, but couldn’t get to it because of the weight holding him down. He felt a pair of cold hands on his shoulders, and could feel decayed breath against his neck. Robson braced himself. Then the weight was suddenly lifted off his back. Rolling over, he saw Dravko standing beside him, holding Tamara’s head between his hands. She struggled to break free, but his grip was stronger. Dravko squeezed as tight as he could, his arms straining from the pressure. Tamara cried out as her skull caved in. Her body slipped through his fingers and onto the dirt, covered in a rain of skull chunks, brain, and skin. Dravko wiped his hands on his pants, and then reached out his right to help up Robson.
“Thanks,” said Robson, struggling to regain his balance, favoring his good leg.
Dravko patted his friend on the shoulder. “Let’s end this now.”
Robson picked up the pitchfork, using it as a makeshift crutch. Taking one of the nearby lamps, he lobbed it at the barn doors. The glass shattered, splattering kerosene across the wood and bursting into flames. Robson tossed three more against the other walls, creating a conflagration that would consume everything inside the barn. Dravko had culled out the coven, having snapped the necks of Jonathon, Sean, Lewis, and Miles.
Clutching the pitchfork, Robson limped over to Dravko. “You should get out of here while you still have a chance.”
“I’m the last of my kind, so I’ll die here with the rest of my coven.” Dravko took a step back to stand beside his friend. “I could say the same about you.”
“I’ve lost too much blood. I’d never make it to morning. Besides,” Robson pointed ahead of him. “You’re going to need help.”
Vladimir and Gabrielle had completed their transformation into the living dead. Both zombie vampires had risen to their feet and stared at the two men with dead gray eyes. Vladimir tilted his head, sizing up his prey. His lips curled up at the corners and he gr
owled. Vladimir and Gabrielle lunged.
* * *
Roberta had finished wrapping the chain around the barn door handles and securing the lock when something smashed against the other side. A moment later, a searing heat shot through the cracks, followed by a whoosh as flames engulfed the interior. Roberta limped backwards, forgetting about her wounded ankle, and fell onto the dirt. She crab walked twenty feet away before stopping to rest. By then, the flames had moved to the exterior walls and lapped at the roof. More fires sprang up along the other three walls.
Robson and Dravko were burning down the barn, and she had trapped them inside. Roberta crawled to her feet and hobbled forward to unchain the handles to give them a way to escape. By now, flames had engulfed the twin doors, making it impossible for her to reach the chains. She stepped back, searching for a way to get inside.
That was when a howl emanated from inside the barn, a sound so ungodly it made her blood run cold.
* * *
Robson raised his pitchfork and jammed it into Gabrielle’s face when she came within range. One prong punctured her left eye, one lodged in her throat, and the other pierced her neck. She lurched from side to side, trying to break free. Clawing at them had no effect and biting on the center prong succeeded only in shattering her teeth. Gabrielle grew frustrated at not being able to get to the food. Grasping the handle and balancing himself on his good leg, Robson shoved the pitchfork in deeper. Because of his weakened condition, he could not puncture the skull.
Gabrielle snarled and lunged, her outstretched arms grasping for his throat. Robson fell over backward. Still holding the pitchfork, he lodged the end in the dirt, locking it in place so that Gabrielle impaled herself. The prong in her eye smashed through the skull and scrambled her brain, while the one in her mouth severed the spinal column. Her weight broke the handle below the metal connection. Her body dropped to one side, the pitchfork still imbedded in her skull. Gabrielle convulsed a few times and then her body went limp.
Rotter Apocalypse Page 29
