Dead by Dawn (9 page)

(
Canada) Moncton, NB - July 9th

            
 
Leeann Wright recently discovered her husband was cheating on her. The dumb prick left his phone behind when he went to the bar and his mistress had left a voicemail.

Leeann was lucky enough to grab his phone and intercept that voicemail. A few minutes later the yard was intercepting all of his belongings as she tried to throw them into the road screaming profanities.

In a little under an hour she threw almost everything that belonged to him in the yard. Anything of value she smashed. His golf clubs and big screen for example.

Now she was in her 2008 Chevy Impala heading to her sister’s.

There weren't any other cars around when she pulled up to the light. It made her feel a little better about bawling where no one could see her.

There was however, a peculiar looking teenager walking down the sidewalk a little ways up the road.

Leeann sniffed back her tears and tried to regain her composure before the boy could get close enough to see.

When the light turned green she began to go. The boy jumped into the street, forcing her to hit the brakes.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she screamed. “You have a death wish or something?”

The boy jumped on the hood of her car and with one punch, put a huge crack in her windshield.

“Stop!”

He punched again. The repeated strikes sent spider web cracks across the windshield.

Leeann fumbled with her cell phone, dropping it once before successfully dialing the cops.

“I’m calling the police,” she yelled at the teenager.

The line was busy, so she hit redial. Nothing.

Meanwhile the boy punched a hole in the window and was using his claw like fingers to pry it apart.

Leeann hit the gas and the car took off. She swerved, screaming her head off and unable to see through the destroyed windshield. She made it forty feet before slamming into a light post. The airbag exploded in her face and the boy flew off the hood.

The engine died, leaving her to listen to it sizzle as she laid her head against the airbag. She could feel a burn mark on her cheek and winced.

The boy came back, jumping on her hood and ripping open the rest of her windshield.

He was inside and on top of her before she could even get her seatbelt off.

Goshen, NY - July 9th

              Two hundred and thirty-six people were dancing to the same rhythm. They wore dress clothes and fancy skirts. They were all lost in a whirlwind of booze, bodies, flashing lights and sound. Most were young, barely old enough to drink, while others were not even legal.

They were having the time of their lives. Not one of them knowing how short those lives would be.

Somebody accidentally allowed a vampire to slip in through the back door. It was the club’s manager, who’d been hypnotized while he took out the trash.

He was dead now, and so was everyone who was in the second men’s bathroom way in the back of the place.

Were it a less stimulating environment they would have seen the vampire as he walked amongst them. It was wearing a suit and tie, the same one that was put on him the day of his funeral. Its face was covered in blood; the manager’s and the three men from the bathroom.

It was heading for the DJ. He stood on a pedestal, higher than everyone on the dance floor. Everyone would be able to see when he went down.

People began to shout near the back. Someone found the bodies.

No one on the dance floor could hear the screams because the music was too loud.

The vampire pounced, pinning the DJ against his turntables and biting into his jugular.

A troop of girls dancing with each other got sprayed with a stream of blood. When they realized what the warm substance was, they began to scream.

The vampire lifted its blood soaked mouth from the DJ’s neck and let out a bellowing screech.

Pandemonium broke out as everyone tried to run. Guys that were trying to get a girl’s favor only seconds before were now shoving them out of the way to get to the door. A few people were knocked down and trampled.

The vampire left the DJ and jumped down, on top of a girl who was frightened into immobilization. Only at the last second did she try to fight, but it was too late.

One of the bartenders was crouching down beneath the bar, hoping she wouldn’t be noticed.

The vampire would find her next.

The people fleeing would find no sanctuary. There were ten more vampires waiting for them in the parking lot.

They dove out from behind cars and from the corner of the building.

Screams pierced the night as person after person was brought down.

When the amount of people became too large, the vampires began snapping legs, leaving a sea of moaning victims. They would come back later and finish them off.

There were two hundred and thirty six people in the club that night. It was a pretty good number for a small town so far up state.

Not one of them would survive.

Douglas, GA - July 9th

              Jake and Romaine took their girlfriends to Sandy Lake on a double date. For the last hour they were passing around a bottle of Jack, and were now ready to go skinny-dipping.

The water was warm; it felt great. When they got out to where the water was past their waist, Jake had the bright idea to have a chicken fight.

Were they not having so much fun, they might have seen the shadowy figure walking into the water on the opposite bank.

Jake and his girlfriend won the first two rounds. Romaine’s girlfriend cheated on the third, yanking the hair of her opponent.

Jake’s girlfriend called her a bitch, yet somehow they ended up making out.

Jake and Romaine found this to be funny.

Soon after, they decided to swim out into deeper water. They all swam out together. When they reached the point where they wanted to be, Romaine kept going.

“What are you doing?” Jake laughed.

“Come on, let’s see if we can make it all the way across.”

“That’s how people drown,” said Jake’s girlfriend.

Romaine stopped swimming farther out and began to wade in the water. “Are you guys serious?”

His head bobbed, going under the water. “Hey!” he managed to gasp before going down again.

“Damn it Romaine, why do you do this shit?” asked Jake while he waited for his friend to resurface.

“He’s freaking me out,” said Jake’s girlfriend.

They waited, but only bubbles came. Even Jake had to admit he was growing nervous.

“Go get him!” demanded Romaine’s girlfriend.

He was going to, but before he could a man jumped out of the water.

His hair was long and black, and matted down from the water. His skin shined like marble and glistened in the moonlight.

Jake managed only enough time to take in a sharp breath before he was brought under.

The two girls took off towards shore. Both were panicked and both were crying.

Jake’s girlfriend went under when the water was around chest height.

Romaine’s girlfriend made it to the shore where she collapsed into a sobbing ball.

The vampire rose out of the water, one step at a time. The corpses bobbed up behind him.

He took his time, and the girl’s sobs were soon silenced.

East Coast - July 9th

              Danny’s new dog was not going to leave him alone. So far it refused to stop whining for the last hour. All Danny wanted was some sleep, but he wasn’t getting any. He decided that maybe if he took the dog for a walk, the thing would be satisfied and might let him get some rest. Neither he or the dog would ever come back from that walk.

              Officer Stanley was a good man that a lot of people loved. He was fair when it came to his job and never got frustrated when he was forced to listen to people’s endless excuses. He also liked to pull a lot of overtime. It helped him pay for his kid’s travel baseball team.

On this night he was working street patrol, and so far things were going pretty smooth.

He almost spilled his coffee when he spotted a homeless man being attacked in a side alley. He threw his cruiser in park and rushed out to help the man.

There were two people on top of the poor guy and it looked like they were biting him.

Officer Stanley yelled, “Police!” And then they turned on him.

He fired one shot with his pistol, but they continued on to take him down anyway.

              Tom Vick walked through the woods, trying to reach his truck. It was a long day of hunting. Actually it was more of a long day of poaching. Deer season was still a long ways away, but Tom didn’t give a shit. He just wanted to hunt.

He ended up so drunk that he passed out at some point. When he woke up in his stand, it was dark. He had to admit that the woods were creepy at night. He felt vulnerable as he started walking back.

He was almost out of the woods when a vampire stepped out from behind a tree.

“Who are you?” he asked.

They were the last words he would ever speak.

Two miles down the road a group of cousins were camping in their grandparents’ field. They would all be dead soon.

A couple of newlyweds were having a pool party to celebrate buying their first home. The pool would soon be painted red.

An older couple rushed outside to find out who was screaming at their neighbor’s house. In a little while they would be screaming as well.

Todd lived on the third floor of his apartment building. When a seductive voiced woman asked if she could come up, he would buzz in more than he bargained for.

Hundreds of people would die at a small town’s summer festival. They wouldn’t even know what hit them when the vampires rolled in.

By the time 11:00 PM came, more lives were lost than in any other tragedy in recorded history. Unfortunately the night was only beginning.

Chapter 14

              “Are you coming?” asked Caitlin.

Sarah was standing in the hallway of the apartment complex they had just entered. She was checking her phone and hadn’t noticed Ashley’s friend opening the door.

His apartment was packed; it was almost impossible to press through the large mass of people without having to slide against someone. Everybody was grouped together like a giant blood clot in the middle of the living room.

It was not Sarah’s ideal kind of party. She preferred to know at least half the people there. She may have had a better chance of enjoying it anyways, if her parents would just pick up their phones. They went all day without responding to a single one of her texts or voicemails. Sure they weren’t phone people, but it wasn’t like them to go so long without responding.

Something was wrong, she could feel it in her gut. The fact that there was a plague going around and all the vampire-crazed people on Facebook, it made her feel sick.

Why can’t they just call me back?

“Here,” said Caitlin, she was making her way through the crowd, trying to juggle three shots. When she got close, she passed one to Sarah and one to Ashley. “To good times with great friends.
”
She said, clinking her glass against Ashley’s.

Both Ashley and Caitlin threw back the shots, making sour faces as the cheap alcohol burned its way down their throats.

Caitlin eyed Sarah’s shot after she recovered. “Come on drink it. You’ve been a stiff all day. This will help you relax.”

Sarah lifted the glass to her lips. She agreed, the drink probably would help. It would keep her from worrying so much.

The shot was definitely straight vodka. She knew this because it tasted like ink and went down like battery acid. She envied Caitlin for her beer as she was able to use it as a chaser and regretted not grabbing one for herself.

Sarah felt a cough trying to escape her throat and did her best to hold it back.

“There,” said Caitlin. “Now you will feel much better, I promise.”

Sarah wasn’t so sure about that, she didn’t feel better at all. Now she was worried and had a lump in her throat.

Caitlin and Ashley left her at the door and went to the living room to dance. Sarah found her way to the couch, where she would be able to text her mom some more.

Once she was sitting she opened the text box and scrolled through it.

The entire left side of her phone’s screen was blank, the incoming texts side. There wasn’t one yellow bubble from her mom. Only the blue bubbles on the right were showing, tens of inquiries from Sarah’s side.

“Here,” said Caitlin, thrusting a red solo cup into her hand.

Sarah hadn’t even seen it coming and some of the beer sloshed onto her lap.

“Loosen up already! There’s nothing we can do until morning,” said Caitlin.

Sarah gave her an apologetic smile and took a big swig so Caitlin could see it. When she came up for air she had foam on her nose.

“That’s my girl,” said Caitlin.

The beer wasn’t great, but it was significantly better than the vodka. With a little help from Caitlin she was able to put down two in under a half hour.

She didn’t see much of Ashley. The girl knew a lot of people and was lost somewhere in the crowd.

“See that guy in the corner, with the hat?” asked Caitlin. “Don’t look!”

Sarah glanced where she said. There was a guy leaning against the wall with a cup in his hand. The “hat” was a flat cap. It looked like a few of his buddies were trying to talk to him, but he wasn’t listening. He was staring right at her.

Sarah blushed and dropped her gaze to the floor.

“He’s been watching us since we walked in,” said Caitlin.

Sarah leaned over and whispered, “promise me you’re not going to go home with any strange guys tonight.
”

“Come on Sarah, you know I wouldn’t leave you.”

“Well I’m just saying. You
will
get raped.”

Caitlin snorted and threw her hand over her face.

“Remember that,” said Sarah, hiding her smile in the cup as she took another sip.

“Now I remember why I keep you around,” said Caitlin.

“Excuse me.” It was the guy with the flat cap.

Sarah and Caitlin made eye contact.

“You two aren't from around here, are you?”

“What makes you say that?” asked Caitlin, not yet looking away from Sarah.

“I know everyone here, just not you.” He held out his hand. “John White.”

They took one look at his hand and burst out laughing. Maybe it was her nerves; maybe it was the way he held out his hand or simply the idea of it. They laughed, one feeding off the other until people began searching for the source of it.

John looked like a deer caught in headlights. It didn’t take him long to sink back into the crowd.

The girls were so embarrassed by their laughing incident that they decided to do another shot of vodka. Perhaps they were trying to forget.

They followed that with another beer, and then another. Sarah began to lose count as the night swept her away.

Sometime a few hours later, after a hand full of guests had left, there was a knock at the door. A drunken Ashley decided it was okay if she was the one who answered it.

The man on the other side was ruggedly handsome. He wore a suit coat and jacket and stood a whole head’s length taller than her. If he hadn’t been so young, they would have guessed he was a high-end businessman or a man who was doing important things with his life. Perhaps he was born into his wealth then, but that didn’t fit either. The way he held himself, like he was his own rock of confidence. They didn’t think he was trying to be ostentatious, but it rolled off of him as though he were born with it.

She was lost in his eyes, his dark red eyes. She didn’t care that he was so pale, or that there was a blood stain on his collar.

“May I come in?” he asked in a deep and commanding voice.

“Uh huh,” Ashley managed, her mouth agape and her head bobbing. She closed her eyes and breathed in deep.

The man stepped up and pulled her into his embrace. “I am in your debt my love.”

He sank his fangs into her and began to feed. She didn’t resist.

Nobody even noticed something was wrong until he bled her dry and her body hit the floor.

The vampire let out a booming laugh, drawing attention to himself.

“I still thirst humans. Which one of you is next?”

Everyone within earshot turned to see Ashley on the ground, the vampire standing over her with his bloody fangs out. He seemed to be savoring the taste of her blood.

Sarah’s heart froze for a moment in time. She was staring right at her worst nightmare. She could barely wrap her mind around it. No matter how impossible it seemed, there it was.

John was the first to act. He made a brave effort to try and tackle the creature. Unfortunately, it caught him by the throat and brought him to a halt. His eyes went wide as it swept his legs and brought him down, headfirst into the floor.

Sarah flinched at the sound of his skull cracking. When the vampire let go, he was still. His head looked lopsided. There was a large gash running down his hairline. Blood poured out and ran across his face. His mouth moved as though he was talking, but no words came out. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he kept twitching.

Five people ran to the balcony to scream for help, the rest scattered to every corner of the small apartment. A few ran to the kitchen and grabbed knives.

Caitlin and Sarah hid behind the couch. They huddled together, closing their ears and covering their eyes. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t block out the screams.

Instead, they clamped their hands over their mouths in an attempt to silence their panicked breathing.

They huddled together, waiting as two minutes ticked by.

“Holy shit,” Caitlin cried. “They’re dead, they’re fucking dead.”

“I know, I know,” Sarah could hear the panic in her own voice. “We have to be quiet or he’ll hear us.”

Caitlin nodded, but couldn’t quite seem to make her sobs silent.

Sarah was about to suggest they make a run for it when a claw-like hand reached down and grabbed Caitlin by the hair.

She cried and begged as she was pulled to her feet.

“Let me go, please!” She kicked and flailed, but his grip was too strong. “Help!”

Sarah grabbed her hand to try and keep her down, but it was no use. The vampire continued to pull like no resistance had been added.

Still yanking on Caitlin’s hand, Sarah was pulled to her feet as well.

As she was pulled back into the open, she caught a glimpse of the very different state of the apartment. Bodies and gore were scattered across the floor where it had been crowded with a mob of people only minutes before. Blood was even splattered against the ceiling.

Sarah didn’t know what she was expecting to see, but it wasn’t this. So many people who were just partying with her: dead. Only the people in the kitchen, the ones with the knives remained. They had their backs to the wall with the knives held out in front of them. They stood crammed and trembling in the furthest corner from the door.

Sarah yanked on Caitlin until the vampire backhanded her. She sailed backwards, landing flat on her back near the front door.

She couldn’t breathe and was confused as to how she ended up on the floor. Every inch of her body was in pain. She rolled to her side, both hands crossed over her chest. John was there, his body still, his white eyes open. She took one look at his gaping mouth and her breath came back to her in a big rush.

She was lying in a puddle of blood. His blood. The section of his head above his right eye was caved in, mirroring the shape of a morbid cereal bowl. His hair covered most of the damage, but she could still make out the wrongness and her stomach churned.

Sarah sat up, pressing her back against the wall as firmly as she could. She closed her eyes and began panting.

Panic was no good in a life or death situation, she had to get herself under control.

The vampire.

He was dropping Caitlin’s limp body and turning toward the people in the kitchen.

Sarah stood up and half stumbled into the hallway.

As soon as she caught her balance she began to run. It was hard to concentrate. The adrenaline running through her body brought her back a bit, but she was still drunk. She stumbled as she ran, catching herself on the wall and leaving a handprint of Joe’s blood.

When she reached the stairs she used the railing for support. It wouldn’t help at all if she fell and broke her neck.

Fearing there would be more vampires in the street, she chose to only go down one level before turning back into another hallway.

She tried to open every door, screaming for help and pounding on them before moving on to the next. By the time she was done, smears of the blood she was caked in decorated the hallway.

She kept glancing back, waiting for the moment when the vampire would step out of the stairwell. No one would ever know what happened to her.

Finally, one of the doors she tried wasn’t locked. She opened it to find a broom closet. It was tiny and barely had room to fit her, but she squeezed in anyway.

Complete darkness fell over her as she shut the door. The sound of her breathing was heavy and echoed in her ears.

It took a few minutes, but she was able to catch her breath and force herself to be a little quieter.

As her eyes adjusted she could see a small shaft of light coming through the bottom of the door.

She could hear people coming out into the hallway. They sounded calm at first; growing more alarmed as they saw the blood she smeared everywhere.

Sarah wanted to leave the closet to tell them what happened, but couldn’t will herself to move. She was still too frightened.

The alcohol was beginning to take her back. She sank lower, leaning her head against a mop. There was a tarp folded up in the corner that she used for a blanket. It wasn’t comfortable in the least, but she was just drunk enough that it didn’t matter. She was breathing heavy and thought she might choke on her own panic. She laid her head against a mop and stared at the crack of light coming in through the bottom of the door. She couldn’t quite grasp the reality of everything that had just happened. Her mind wouldn’t allow her to think.

She heard screams, outside in the hall. They went on seemingly forever. Sarah could do nothing but stare at the crack of light and listen.

Everyone was dying, yet her mind was refusing to process it. She could only sit there and think about nothing.

Hours passed and the screams faded. At some point during the early morning, she fell asleep.

When she woke, her mouth was completely dry. It tasted like she spent the night chewing dirt. Her chest hurt something awful. Somebody must have punched her or something, and that somebody was probably a guy
…
or a vampire. Memories of the night before came flooding back.