by Maxey, Phil
In an instant Joel flew up the stairs, spiraling around until he saw the small group in front of him, most huddled around the female figure on the metal grated floor. As he moved closer, Marina’s body and injuries came into view and a well of emotion threatened to push its way out of him.
The cell door to their left was open, and Jess and Jasper stood wrapped in Mary’s arms.
Anna pushed repeatedly down on Marina’s chest. “I… I just need to keep her heart pumping long enough for her healing abilities to kick in!” she said out of breath.
Any normal human would have left the mortal realm from the extent of injuries Joel could see across Marina’s body. At the back of his mind, a tiny insignificant voice craved the blood which had left her body and was dripping through the gaps in the floor.
He looked at Mary. “Take the kids inside and close the door.”
Mary nodded but Jess protested.
“Come on, we need to leave Anna to work on your mother,” said Mary, shuffling the children inside while pulling the metal door shut.
“Is there anything we can do?” said Joel. His mind thought there wasn’t, but he ignored it.
“In the medical ward, there are sutures and gauze, bring them… bring everything.”
Joel went to turn, but he realized the balcony behind him was full of people watching.
“I’ll go,” said Kizzy.
As the shape changer’s legs grew in muscle mass, she pushed past the others and sprinted down the steps and into the corridor. As she went, scenes of blood and mayhem replayed through her mind. She then realized she hadn’t seen Amos since the battle started.
CHAPTER TWO
Amos looked with loathing eyes at the human that had hidden in the bowels of the prison with a group of his most trusted henchmen and the man’s wife. The screams of terror were still thundering through his skull, and he hung his head waiting for the overwhelming sensations to pass.
“I think it’s over,” said a muscular man whose head almost touched the low ceiling.
“How do we know who won?” said another, slightly smaller man.
Holland stood and listened.
“The good guys won,” said Amos without lifting his head. He knew this to be true from the silence permeating the three feet of concrete above. The incessant blood-lusting thoughts, like a thousand ants gnawing at his brain, suddenly stopped twenty minutes ago. He had no idea how or why it happened, he just knew the vamps were gone.
Holland nodded to the large man next to him, then pointed to the door and the heavy machinery propped up against it. “Clear the door, see what’s outside.” He then clicked on his radio, only static came from the speaker. He tried talking into it anyway, but there was no response. “That head of yours picking up anything from up top?” he said to Amos.
Amos sighed then looked at him. “Joel, Anna, Evan, most of the others are alive. Marina… she’s…” He searched for the right term. Many times since his change, he found he lacked the words to describe what his abilities were telling him.
“Dead?” said Holland.
“She’s in-between. They are trying to help her.”
“Get the door open!” said Holland to the now small group trying to do so.
Amos dragged himself to his feet as the heavy items were pushed to the side, and the door swung open. Immediately they all smelt the smoky odor that was clinging to the air.
Holland coughed, covering his face. “Must be a fire somewhere.”
The three large men stepped outside, walking through a thin layer of black ash, followed by Holland then Amos.
They made their way up the narrow staircase, then one of the men pushed the door open at the top, immediately exploding a pile of ash into the air. They all covered their faces as they moved out into the wide corridor.
They all looked at the black dry substance which was in clumps across the floor and equally painted in splotches across the walls. Buried amongst the ash were larger shapes, human in form.
Holland’s radio came alive, making everyone jump. A chorus of voices all speaking at once came from the speaker. Holland added to the mess of sounds trying to make himself heard above the others.
Amos started running down the corridor.
“Where you going kid?” shouted Holland after him.
Amos ignored the question and ran towards where his mind was telling him to go. Towards Cell Block C.
*****
Anna applied the gauze to the deepest wounds across Marina’s body. She looked over her shoulder. “Is the gurney ready?” she shouted.
“Yes!” shouted Kizzy from below.
In the few minutes that it took Kizzy to find and collect the medical items, Anna had told those close by to keep pressure on Marina’s wounds then ran back down to the ground floor level and made a quick inspection to the condition of everyone else. She counted off the few hundred that were crammed in the cell block, half were dead, and everyone else was injured in some way. She gave what advice she could to those that were conscious and helped those that had been ill previously back onto all but one of the hospital beds, ready to be moved back to the medical ward. She had no idea what condition it was in though.
Anna held Marina’s legs while Joel held her shoulders, and both lifted her along the balcony, down the stairs, and then gently lowered her onto the gurney.
Anna checked her pulse once more. “Okay, her heartbeat is a little stronger. Let's get her upstairs.” She paused before looking back to Kizzy. “Are the elevators still working?”
Dalton slowly got back to his feet, his body covered in lacerations and blood stains. “We’ll figure it out.”
Anna nodded.
They both moved away with the hospital bed. Joel went to move with them when Anna held his arm.
“What?” he said.
She nodded to a nearby empty cell. “We need to talk.”
They moved into the cell and she closed the door behind them.
“We got a problem,” she said.
He looked at her not understanding.
“A lot of the humans were killed, but—”
Before Anna finished, the ‘problem’ appeared in Joel’s mind. “Shit…”
“Yup…”
“How many are infected?”
“I counted around seventy that will survive their injuries in this cell Block. Most were hiding here, but there are bound to be others around the prison that survived as—”
Voices came from outside.
Joel and Anna emerged from the cell. Evan was standing with Max, Josh, Rachel, and Bill, looking at the scene in the block. Anna moved to Josh and placed her hand on his cheek, making him wince.
“It looks worse than it feels,” said Josh.
Anna walked to one of the bags of gauze on the floor, plucked some from a box and handed it to him. “Keep this on it.”
Joel looked at Max, Bill, and the others. “What happened?”
A brief look passed between the two older men.
“The tablet,” said Bill.
“What about it?”
“We managed to get it working again. I saw something come up on the computer screen about killing vampires, so I activated it.” He looked around. “This was the result.”
Joel looked surprised. “The tablet did all this?”
“Yup.”
“That’s the good news, the bad news is the tablet is dead. Whatever power it contained, was used saving all of us,” said Rachel.
Footsteps came from the corridor. Amos appeared where the iron bars used to be.
He took a moment to absorb the devastation within the block. “Where’s Kizzy?” he said to Joel.
“Medical ward.”
Amos went to run off.
“Holland survive?”
Amos nodded then disappeared back into the shadows. Joel frowned.
Flint whimpered on the floor. He was laying up against a nearby wall. Joel walked to the dog and kneeled. “Hey, buddy. From what I heard you did
good.”
The dog licked his hand.
CHAPTER THREE
Adrian watched the older of the three men who emerged from the sarcophagi step into the large room which had a view over the remains of San Jose. Outside was only darkness and the occasional spark of light from a fire.
Rynon walked to the window almost colliding with it, until he stopped and pressed his fingers against the glass.
The other two human-vamp hybrids entered the room with Copeland and Galen. All were now fully clothed in a black bodysuit of Galen’s design.
“This city is m… yours, sire,” said Copeland.
Adrian was surprised at the deference his CEO was giving to these refugees from the ancient past. He stood awkwardly, waiting to be introduced. As each second passed he hoped that maybe his presence had been forgotten and he could slink out through the still open door.
Copeland pressed a virtual button on a tablet which was stuck to the wall, and the expansive piece of glass slid back. A light gust blew in from outside. But that wasn’t what Rynon was looking at, for his eyes were still fixed on the computing device near Copeland’s hand. He walked to it and touched it. It did not respond how he presumed it would. “What is this?” he said to Copeland, his words now being translated and broadcast from a small speaker built into the fabric of his suit.
“It has been over ten sar’s since we think you slept in your, umm, capsules,” said Copeland. “Humanity advanced—”
Rynon’s face contorted into one of anger. “Humanity? There was barely one sar’s worth across the entire kingdom! Now they cover all the deserts and mountains?”
“Yes, there were many humans. More than stars in the sky, but not anymore. I changed that. I brought about the end of humanity!” Copeland straightened his back.
The slighter of the three former kings moved closer to the window. “We can rebuild, use the human machines for ourselves.”
Rynon looked at the tablet once more. “This machine does not react to my commands, why is this?”
“Umm…”
Adrian took that as his opportunity to be useful. He cleared his throat, then walked across to Rynon and Copeland. “This is modern human… machinery…”
“This is not the tablet?” said Rynon. “Where are the tablets? They were to be placed inside the tomb where we slept!”
Adrian looked at Copeland then stepped back, leaving the answer to the man who was in charge of the excavation of the Kings tomb and was no longer in possession of some of what was found there.
“They were taken…”
Anger once again returned to Rynon’s face, and in one swift movement, he reached up and enclosed his fist around Copeland’s leathery throat. Copeland flailed but was unable to remove the smaller being’s grip.
Adrian kept walking backward until he bumped into one of the sofas in the room.
Rynon swung his head around and let go of Copeland who collapsed to the ground, holding his throat and trying to force breath back into his lungs. “I know where they are… one of them was used just today…” The words scraped from his throat.
The blonde king looked at Copeland. “We need all three tablets. You will retrieve them.”
“Yes, yes… of course, Tyror, you will have all of them soon.”
Rynon turned and walked back to where the glass window once stood and then over the threshold and onto the large balcony. The two other kings joined him.
“If the tablets woke us, then this must be the time for us to rise again,” said the third king.
Rynon nodded.
*****
A machine beeped. One of many producing the same noises in the medical ward, which still bore the damage from the intrusion of rabid vamps.
Joel stood away from Marina’s bed near the main entrance. Jess, Jasper, and Mary sat closer. He wanted to comfort the kids, but felt to do so would be inappropriate, so instead he leaned on the doorframe and watched Anna run from bed to bed, patching and sewing the broken and sliced bodies. The ward now contained twice its usual complement of patients, and these were just the ones Anna thought she had a chance of saving.
One of the double doors swung open and Holland appeared. Two of his men stood guard outside.
“How is she?”
Holland’s concern sounded genuine. Joel couldn’t stop that idea making him angry, but his own guilt was heavier. “Still alive.”
Holland noticed the distance between Joel and Marina’s bed. “Yeah, she’s a strong one. Let's go outside and talk.”
Joel nodded and they moved into the corridor. Echoes of voices and footsteps came from the ends of the narrow space, but apart from the two guards, it was empty.
“So, how you do it?” said Holland.
Lies went to spill from Joel’s mouth but he was too tired to produce them. “The tablet… it did something. Created a wave of energy that took out all the vamps.”
Holland looked confused. “But not you?”
Joel hadn’t had time to realize that the burst of death which swept the prison complex and the fields beyond only affected the basic vamps, and nothing else. “Err… no, I’m… the hybrids are fine.”
“So this tablet… we can use it again?”
Joel shook his head. “It was a one-time deal. It’s dead. No power left.”
“We can’t recharge it?”
“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Max and the others… where were you when all of this went down?”
Holland tried to hide his awkwardness at the question. He turned and looked through the small windows in the doors. “Doing my bit.” He turned back to Joel. “So what’s the damage? How many of you and us are left?”
Joel knew that ‘us’ meant humans. “Maybe a hundred humans are alive. Some of them won’t make it through the night due to their injuries.”
Holland’s face froze in thought. Joel knew what the thought was.
“They’re all infected!” he said louder than Joel would have wished.
“Yeah…”
One of the guards shifted his weight from one foot to another.
Holland leaned in closer to Joel. “We got to take them out!” he said, lowering his voice.
Joel wanted to grab the larger man and lift him off the floor, probably after he did his own ‘taking out’ of his two guards. He wanted to explain to the former crime boss that the people who were in pain scattered around the corridors and cell blocks had fought to keep humanity alive, to keep him alive, that their lives mattered and they all should be given more time.
But instead, he just stood, not wanting to agree, but nodding regardless. They may have defeated Copeland’s army, but that devil still won. He sighed. “People are not stupid, they will know what they will become. But if we force the situation, things might get out of hand.”
One of the double doors opened, and Anna appeared in the gap. She ignored Holland and just looked at Joel. “I need you.”
Joel walked inside with Anna and continued after her into the narrow corridor to the surgery room, and then the final room itself. Stars sparkled in the sky above their heads where a skylight used to be. The room itself was a mass of tangled metal implements and glass.
Anna looked around shaking her head. “We need to get this room up and running.”
Joel went to walk away. “I’ll see if I can find some brooms and bags to clear—”
“No, that’s not what I… I mean, yes thanks, do that, but that’s not why I needed to talk to you.”
“Okay…”
Anna stepped closer to him. “You can save these people!”
Joel blinked in horror, then turned away. “No…”
“Why not! Your blood can save nearly a hundred people, Joel!”
He shook his head, then looked back at her. “You really think creating that many hybrids is a good idea? You know how you felt when you first changed. The only reason you didn’t kill anyone was because Marina was there… and… should we really be bringing more of…”
“Things like us into the world? Yeah, why not? Everyone’s going to get infected sooner or later. At least this way, they have some chance of surviving in this new world.”
Joel’s head shaking stopped. “Holland wants to kill them all. Before they change.”
Anna stepped in even closer. “You have to stop him. Convince him that hybrids could be useful. Copeland’s not done with us, done with any of this. He must have seen what happened to his little army. He’s going to want that tablet… and he’s going to keep on bringing death to whoever is left alive.”
Joel sighed. “How about your blood? Or the other hybrids, will that work to save people?”
“I’ve already tried it, the patient still died… maybe if their wounds were less… I don’t know. It would seem whatever is different about your blood, is more potent than what’s in our bodies.”
Another problem struck Joel. “What do we feed them once they turn? We fed on animal blood after. That helped our craving for the human kind…”
She briefly hung her head in thought. “I don’t know. Maybe they can donate their own before they change. Maybe that will help… I don’t know!” She threw her hand to her face to stop tears from flowing.
Joel sat on what was left of the operating table. “Okay, quickly take some blood now, then I need to catch up with Holland before his people start killing.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Amos stood in the lookout room of Tower A, the tower which was closest to the town. Streaks of orange, mauve, and pink jutted into the light blues of the sky and columns of smoke rose from various points between the streets a few miles to the east.
“Hey, why you up here?” said Kizzy, walking up the final metal steps. Heavier clangs on the steel staircase heralded Dalton's presence further back.
Amos knew her question before she asked, and had his answer prepared. “Needed to be… away.”
She looked around at the spent rifle cartridges, then moved closer to the window. “Sheesh…”
“Yeah, the fields are going to be well fertilized for a good few months… that’s if vamp guts are good for growing stuff in…”
