by Joe Fowler
“That is a good idea. I would feel better knowing they had some protection.” Seth seemed to agree. “Austin, do you need to feed?”
“Yes. I was going to see if I could wait until tomorrow but it might be smarter to do it now.” I hated having to ask this of Seth but he never complained. I no longer worried about taking too much. My whole being shied away from doing anything that would hurt Seth. He was the greatest person I had ever met.
Rosalyn and I backtracked our route from the night before. I was very glad I made this suggestion as we were under attack much of the time. There were never enough to threaten us but enough that I was happy we were there. We decided on more of a patrol back and forth through the area since vampires were appearing at random from the south. We stayed busy but never lost our smiles either. We were cutting into their numbers and protecting actual people. Our night was good.
“We found a mother lode!” Seth and Josh were smiling and laughing when they made it back to the house where we had spent the previous day.
“Vampires or survivors?” I asked.
“Both. There’s a huge apartment building where the humans had been herded by the vampires. They rounded up a couple hundred humans and put them in this complex for safekeeping. Josh and I probably killed a thousand vamps and maybe a hundred ghouls. We talked to the humans some and told them to stay put for now. I made sure they knew we would be back tomorrow night to protect them. Josh and I are going to take turns between taking the other survivors there and sleeping. This way, you two have protection from the ghouls and the humans will be protected and in the same place when the vampires come tonight.” Seth explained what they had decided on.
“That sounds wonderful. We can all go there tonight. We killed maybe four hundred or so through the night but it would be better if we had one area to protect instead of miles of homes.” Rosalyn said happily.
“So splitting up was a great idea. It’s better that we won’t have to anymore. The biggest question now is how many vampires are left? During the days to come, Josh and I will be splitting time between finding humans and finding the vampires. I would love it if we could leave Rio in a week or two. We have to try to make sure their numbers are small enough for the humans to handle when they return though.” Seth explained.
“At least we can see an end in sight now. That’s more than we could say a week ago.” I offered.
“Exactly. I can’t believe I have been away from Alicia this long.” Josh’s words cut through all of us. Seth would be missing Anna the same way.
“We can use that for motivation. Let’s get this done so you two can go home to your wives.” Rosalyn said with determination.
“Agreed.” Josh, Seth, and I spoke simultaneously, causing us to laugh a bit.
I felt the sun’s approach then and Rosalyn rose with me as we headed to our room. As we got into bed, I wondered if we would really be able to go home in a week or so. It almost sounded too good to be true.
Josh had his finger to his lips when we entered the living room. He motioned to Seth who was sleeping soundly on the couch. We followed Josh outside so we could talk without waking Seth up.
“He went out first this morning and didn’t come back until late. He found another apartment complex full of people. He had just finished getting the other survivors to the first apartments. He went a different route on the way back and found the second one. He also found a huge factory where over three thousand vampires were sleeping. He killed them and the fifty or so ghouls who were protecting them. He found another smaller sleeping place with around four hundred or so vampires. By the time he made it back, it was too late for me to leave.” Josh whispered to us.
“He needs to rest then.” Rosalyn was whispering too. “We will need to split up. We need to protect the humans but we can’t leave Seth unprotected with vampires running around. How do you think we should do this?”
“Let me think.” Josh looked around for a minute and was about to speak when I beat him to the punch.
“I will stay with Seth. You two can split up and each take an apartment complex to protect.” I suggested.
“You sure? I know you two would prefer to stay together.” Josh was right but this was the best way to handle the situation.
“Rosalyn can protect one complex without my help and you can protect the other without my help. I should be able to watch out for Seth without any risk. If it does get too much for me to handle alone, then I wake Seth up. Everyone should be safe and the humans will have guardians. I don’t want to be away from Rosalyn for even a moment but this is the best way to do this.” I tried to speak with conviction.
“Can’t argue with his logic.” Rosalyn said to Josh.
“Maybe we should let you do more of the thinking. This isn’t the first time you’ve had the best idea.” Josh smiled before shifting gears. “Okay then. I will go to the old complex since they already know me. I will write down the directions for the new one, although you can probably follow Seth’s scent.”
We went back inside making sure to keep quiet. Josh gave Rosalyn the directions and they left soon after. I took a position by the front window where I could see the street in both directions. The night passed by slowly since there wasn’t anything to do. It wasn’t long before my mind began to wander.
I was thinking of my high school prom for some reason. My date was pretty much a bitch but I knew she would put out later. I guess that made it ok in my mind at the time. She didn’t really like me and I didn’t care for her. We looked good together was the best thing I could say about our pairing. There weren’t any feelings to that memory now.
I had trouble finding positive emotions in any of my memories these days. Girls liked me but I never really connected with any of the ones I had been with. I wanted a relationship. Even in high school when all the other guys just wanted to get laid, I wished for something deeper. After high school it was the same story. I was like a magnet for the crazy ones. Just when I would start to care about a woman she would start going through my mail and phone bills looking to see if I was cheating on her. I had met a few of those kind. There were other crazies like a woman wanting to get married after two weeks of knowing each other, or one woman who cried the whole time we were having sex. I seemed destined to be alone.
Then I met Rosalyn. Sure she killed me and turned me into a bloodsucking parasite, but she had a good heart. There are no words to express how beautiful Rosalyn was to me. Words like perfect and exquisite helped get the point across but she was on a higher level than I could describe. Knowing she loved me too, was the greatest feeling of my lifetime. I started thinking of how we would have forever to be together. I passed the next few hours with a big goofy smile on my face.
It was around two o’clock when Seth woke. He looked around confused for a minute before heading to the kitchen. He found some food he and Josh had brought with them. He and Josh were having to scrounge around the stores and homes for food. They needed a ton with their metabolisms being so high. Neither of them had complained about the junk food or the canned goods they were living off of. I let him eat for a while before I came over and told him what we had decided to do.
“Josh is at one apartment complex and Rosalyn is protecting the other. I stayed to make sure you weren’t bothered. Josh told us how productive your day went.” I sat across from him as he continued to wake up.
“What time is it?” He asked.
“Just after two o’clock.”
“I know I was exhausted when I got here. I might still be asleep if I hadn’t been so hungry.” He drank from his warm beer.
“That’s the one good thing about being a vampire. We are always well rested. Did Josh sleep any yesterday?” I wondered.
“Not that I know of. Do you know which set of apartments he is at?”
“He is at the first one you guys found. He thought it would be better since they already know him.” I said.
“I will go and relieve him. If you don’t mind staying here, h
e will have the chance to get some sleep tonight and I will take first watch tomorrow.” Seth stood and stretched.
“Sounds good.” I replied. Seth patted me on the back as he headed for the door.
I stayed in my chair for a while since I didn’t have to keep watch at the moment. Finally, thirst won out and I went for a beer. Warm beer was better than no beer. I walked outside for a few minutes while I drank. I saw a vampire head in my direction from down the street. I drank my beer and waited patiently as he approached.
“Where is everyone? I’ve been to three of the meeting houses and can’t find anybody.” He said. I decided to try and play along to see if I could get any information from him. I was just glad he spoke English instead of Portuguese.
“Which three did you go to?” I asked not knowing what else to say.
“Does it matter? You are the first vampire I have seen all night. Those Americans are wiping us out. Do you know if the feeding houses are ok?” He looked at me hopefully.
“The two apartment complexes north of here are good. There are even a few extra humans there now. Some were found hiding and got taken there.” I was able to use the truth. He smiled wickedly.
“That makes three feeding points. The one down by the beach was still ok last night. I know we lost a lot in that idiotic attack, but why aren’t there more of us? We should still have four thousand or more in this area alone.” He was proving himself to be useful. I wasn’t sure how to get more information without giving myself away though.
“I guess it’s those damn Americans. I was at that fight. I hate to say it but it might be better that the building fell. It looked like they were going to kill us all. Was there some plan I didn’t know about? From what I saw we were just offering ourselves up to be slaughtered.” I hoped I wasn’t pushing my luck. I smelled Josh’s scent then and hoped he would stay out of sight until I knew I couldn’t get more information from this vampire.
“I wouldn’t know. I heard about the fight but wasn’t there. I doubt we could muster enough of us now to pose a real threat to them anymore. Except for the auditorium, the factory north of here is the last big sleeping area left. That’s why I was heading in this direction when I couldn’t find anyone. I figured someone there would know what was going on.” He leaned up against the house and ran his fingers through his hair.
“How many more of us do you think there are?” This was the big one.
“The five thousand at the eastern side and the four thousand here is it. We emptied the southern parts for the big attack and they have been killing us off night and day. How many Americans are there really? I heard everything from two to two hundred. I would at least like to know how many we face.” He seemed desperate.
“Four. I saw four of them at the fight. One great big werewolf and another that I guess is a werewolf only he looked like a huge spooky red-eyed black bigfoot. The other two were vampires.” I wanted to laugh knowing Josh heard all that.
“Why would vampires be attacking us? Are they stupid? We got it made now and they are ruining it. All these people to feed on and we don’t even have to hide anymore. Stupid Americans.” He was flustered now. He looked like he was about to say more when he caught Josh’s scent better. “What is that? It smells like a werewolf but it is different. Mouthwatering. What is that?”
I decided to end it since I didn’t think he would talk anymore. I drew my machete and took his head in one smooth motion. Having heard, Josh came around the corner smiling. He was still in his wolf form. I guess he was waiting to make sure all went well.
“Good job getting him to talk. I like the sound of it, too. Around five thousand more and we can go home.” Josh began to shimmer and turned human.
“Plus another group of humans. The more survivors the better.” We took a quick look around before we went inside.
Josh was slow in getting to sleep from the excitement of knowing we might be going home soon. Fatigue finally won out and he began to snore. I resumed my watch by the window where I sat through Seth’s slumber earlier. The last part of the night went quickly.
As Rosalyn entered, I motioned for her to go back outside. I followed behind her. I was too excited to wait for Seth. We could repeat the good news when he came back. Rosalyn knew it was good news by the look on my face.
“What happened? I can tell it was something good.” Rosalyn was already smiling which made me lose track of what I was about to say.
“I was standing outside drinking a beer while Seth was taking over for Josh. A stray vampire saw me and walked up asking where everybody was. I got to talking to him and he said there may only be five thousand of them left.” Rosalyn processed this quickly. She was hugging me as soon as the words left my mouth. “There’s more humans alive south of here. They have another feeding house down by the beach.”
“That’s wonderful! Did he say anything else?” She asked. She was still smiling happily. I was so happy to see her this cheerful again.
“Not really. He was looking for any vampire he could find. He came in this direction thinking the large sleeping area that Seth cleared was still okay. Josh was approaching and heard what I was trying to do. He stayed out of sight but at the end the vampire smelled him. I didn’t think the vampire had any more information so I killed him. He already said the vampires in the eastern part of town were in an auditorium of some kind. That will narrow down the search for us.” I was hoping I didn’t forget anything.
“We could be going home in a few days. We attack tomorrow night and then find a way to get the humans to Sao Paolo. Then we go home.” She kissed me. We were still kissing when Seth walked up.
“I heard ‘then we go home’. What’s going on?” Seth looked at us with questions in his eyes. We quickly related the story to him. He took a moment to think things through. “We can go home in a few days. It seems too good to be true.”
“You already took out half of what he thought remained of the vampires here. The auditorium should have the other five thousand. After we kill them it gets complicated a bit. We find the group of humans near the beach. Then we find a way to get them and the other two groups to safety. Transportation seems to be the biggest problem. The vampires took out the roads and boats. How do we get the survivors out of here?” Rosalyn was trying to show the things we needed to think about now.
“We have time to figure that one out. Let’s get inside before the sun comes up.” Seth could see our growing discomfort.
Rosalyn and I headed to bed reluctantly. We were slaves to the sun’s rising and setting. This would be a night to remember though. After three weeks we were ready to leave the stench of Rio behind us. A few more days and we would.
Chapter 25
Rosalyn and I had sex when we woke. It was the first time in weeks. Our hope had been stoked into a roaring fire and we wanted to celebrate. When we finally left our bed, Seth and Josh were ready for us.
“We are headed east tonight at a run. If possible, we would like to find the auditorium and take out as many vampires as we can find along the way. Josh and I told the human survivors that we wouldn’t be there tonight but there shouldn’t be many if any vampires left in this area. They will be safe enough.” Seth was excited and itching to go.
“I like it.” Rosalyn said with a smile.
With all of us seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, we took off at a sprint. They had to slow down to my speed but we still made really good time. One group of three vampires lost their heads without even seeing us coming. Without breaking stride Josh, Rosalyn, and I each beheaded one. We might have been two blocks away by the time their heads hit the ground. When he saw an auditorium in the distance, Josh sped up to lead the way.
We slowed to a stop a few blocks away. There were a few vampires out and we didn’t want to miss any. We began taking out the vampires who were increasing in number as we went. I didn’t have to be told how different this would be from Paris and the attack here that resulted in the fire. We wouldn’t be letting them come
to us this time. When we were only a block away, we spread out some as we moved forward. We were going to end this tonight.
Once enough of the vampires realized we were attacking them, they finally started trying to mount a defense. They gathered around the outside of the auditorium trying to form a wall to keep us out. After thirty minutes and a thousand dead vampires, their wall was gone.
We entered the auditorium to find both vampires and humans. The humans were in a fenced in portion of the building. They looked to be starving and near death. Vampires were scrambling trying to attack us. Some of the vampires appeared to be trying to escape which led Josh to go after them before they could get away. The other three of us continued as we were going. We cut through them with ease. Hope was lending to our already considerable strength. Some of the humans who were able, began cheering.
A little less than two hours later, our group of four and the humans were the only ones left. We freed them from their enclosure but some were too weak to leave. Seth began questioning them while Josh and Rosalyn left to gather food for the humans. By the time the food was brought in, Seth had learned of two more feeding houses in this area. That made five in total. We would need to find these houses and get those vampires between here and there.
“Josh, you take Rosalyn and go find those houses. Be on the lookout for any vampires we might have missed. Get those people ready to move. I have been working on an idea but I don’t know how well it will work.” Seth looked around at our little group. “I want us to move all the humans down to the beach area feeding house. Once we have everyone there, I am going to run to Sao Paolo and have them send a ship to pick everyone up. It would be better if we knew where a good ship dock was. The beach might not be the right place.”
“Hold on.” Rosalyn went to the humans and began speaking in Portuguese. The man she spoke with seemed to be giving her directions. She spoke for several minutes before thanking him and returning to our group. “We need a map. He gave me directions to the Gamboa area where all the large ships come in…”
