Fall of the Mortals (Book 1) (35 page)

“You sure you want to do this?” Yuri asked as if Thai was out of his mind.

“Let’s do it,” Thai answered.

He climbed out the window and began to climb down the side of the building slowly. Yuri lowered Thai down the side.

“Careful,” said Yuri as he lowered him down carefully.

Thai had a look of fear in his face being lowered. Harold, Trang and Chris helped feed the rope which was tied around Harold.  

“Good,” said Yuri keeping his eyes on Thai who was making his way down the side of the building. “A little more rope. Keep it coming.”

Thai looked through the broken windows of level seventy-one. He looked through them hoping the bikers couldn’t see him. He reached in through the broken window, grabbed hold of a set of blinds, pulled it out and tossed it into the wind to his left. Thai watched the blinds miss the platform and fall to the street a thousand feet below. Another gust of fear went through him watching the blinds fall being blown around by the breeze of the high altitude.

“How’s it going down there?” Yuri hollered.

“One down!” Thai yelled, maneuvering himself to the next window and ripping out the next set of blinds.

“Careful on the glass!” Yuri hollered with caution. “Don’t get cut.”

“Roger that!” Thai responded, ripping out another curtain. “Okay, I can do one more of this section then I’m coming up to get repositioned to my right.”

Thai climbed back up and was lowered again through another window to pull out the next section of blinds. He went from section to section ripping them out on the seventy-first and seventieth levels, the platform still beneath him.

Harold gritted his teeth with the rope tied around him holding Thai’s weight.

“Yuri? Tell him to hurry up. Terry might be waking up and this rope is killing me,” said Harold noticing the morning daylight seeping into level seventy-two.

“Thai! Try to hurry,” Yuri hollered down at Thai. “We don’t want you to get caught!”

“No worries, I’m on the last one then I’m heading up!” Thai responded.

Harold tried to keep himself braced by holding onto a sofa but he slipped and fell to the floor. Betty, Trang and Chris grabbed hold of Harold to keep him from sliding across the glossy floor towards the window.

“Dammit!” Harold shouted coming to a stop with Betty and the others holding him down.

“Whoa!” Thai hollered dropping six feet and kicking through a window on Terry’s level.

A loud crashing sound of glass echoed throughout Terry’s living area until it reached the other side where they were sleeping.

“What the!” Terry shouted, waking up in a hurry and grabbing his machine gun. 

The rope over the edge of the window which held Thai dragged over a sharp piece of glass still intact within the frame. It was short enough not to be noticed but began to cut the rope without Yuri noticing. 

“Thai! Hurry, climb up!” Yuri shouted.

Thai struggled to climb back up as fast as he could. His vigorous climbing caused the rope to be cut more.

“C’mon, c’mon!” said Yuri sounding as if Thai wasn’t going to make it.

Terry looked across the cast area and saw Thai outside the window climbing back up to level seventy-two.

“Curtis! Billy! Shane! Brody! Get your guns you guys, they’re up to something!” Terry shouted as he ran frantically to the windows. The others were right behind him, locked and loaded.

“That’s it! Hurry, Thai!” Yuri hollered from above. “Just about there!”

The rope snapped on the glass. Thai’s jaw dropped. His eyes went large with fright as if he was just about to get hit by a train. He reached for Yuri but it was no good. Yuri watched Thai descend to the platform.

“No!” Yuri shouted.

Thai plunged to the platform landing on his feet collapsing to his side. The cut rope draped over him. Terry and the bikers rushed to windows spotting Thai instantly on the platform. Terry glared at Thai with the crazed eyes of a madman as they aimed their machine guns at him out the window.

“Run Thai! Run!” shouted Yuri out the window from thirty-five feet above.

Thai got up and ran towards the closest window on level sixty-nine like a bat out of hell, not giving Terry and the bikers the chance for a good aim. They fired at Thai. Their bullets rained down on him but Thai dove through the window closest to him. He shattered what was left of the window causing pieces of glass to fly into the open office space. The bits of glass scattered on top of desk tops, chairs and the floor as he hit the carpet and rolled.

“Dammit!” Terry shouted.

“He’s on sixty-nine!” Curtis hollered.

“After him!” shouted Terry as the four of them rushed to the stairwell.

***

Thai barged into the stairwell of level sixty-nine and ran down the stairs as fast as he could. The only thoughts racing through his mind were getting shot multiple times by Terry and his band of murderers. Thai placed his hand on the iron railing. The sounds of rapid gun fire echoed horribly from above as bullets ricocheted off the stairs, iron railings and the walls of the stairwell.

“You’re dead, you little bastard!” Terry shouted from above as Billy, Shane, Brody and Curtis took turns firing down the stairwell at him.

Thai ignored them and continued to race down the stairs like a speed demon despite the bullets that came down at him. Terry and his people raced after him, level after level, until Thai made it to level forty. He remembered there was a second set of elevators which could take him to the lobby. Thai ran through the door and hurried down the aisles of the cubicles towards the elevator. He tripped over an office chair and tumbled against the wall of a cubicle causing a vase with flowers in it to drop to the floor and break. Thai gripped his shoulder in pain for a moment but got up and ran towards the elevators.

Terry and the bikers came to level forty in the stairwell and stopped looking all over for him. They were all breathing heavily from the running.

“Where did he go!” Terry hollered catching his breath.

“Did he head downstairs?” asked Billy, rushing to the edge of the stairs.

Curtis opened the door on level forty. The five came in through the door with their guns in the up position. Curtis led them into the cubicle section. They looked around quietly for a moment.

“So, where did he go?” asked Billy.

Curtis noticed the broken vase on the floor and looked down the aisle of cubicles.

“The elevators! This way!” said Curtis, running through the office space.

Thai reached the elevators and hit the down button gasping for air. He kept watch for the bikers hoping they didn’t follow him. He looked at the numbers of the elevator levels, which were lit up above the doors. The elevator was moving slow heading to level forty.

 “C’mon, c’mon dammit,” said Thai, yelling in frustration.

Thai could hear the sounds of the bikers’ heavy breathing and running towards the elevators around the corner from the elevator corridor and down the hall. He looked around for anything to put in his hands to use as a weapon but there was nothing.

The elevator doors opened just as Terry and the others came around the corner firing their machine guns at him. Thai threw himself to the floor of the elevator and scrambled to the wall as bullet holes dotted up the elevator doors. Bullets came through the doors and struck the rear wall of the elevator. The sounds of the shots were loud and staggering. Thai stayed down fearing Terry would get to him. He looked up and saw Terry’s face of fury at the crack of the door just as it closed.

“You’re dead meat, Thai!” Terry shouted through the door slamming his fist on it.

“Brody, you stay here in case he doubles back!” said Terry while he and the rest of them rushed into another elevator.

Terry and the others reloaded another magazine into their machine guns. Terry’s long hair dangled in his face. He was still breathing heavily wanting to get back at Harold and the tower family badly.

“I gonna kill that Asian prick,” said Terry hatefully, gripping his weapon.

“No one kills him,” stated Curtis firmly. “We take him back alive.”

“We’re going to have an army of vampires to take on tonight because of him, Curtis!” hollered Terry.

“And without him we’re screwed!” Curtis hollered back getting in Terry’s face.

“I see him, he’s dead!” shouted Terry.

“You don’t make that call!” shouted Curtis. “Without him as a bargaining chip, we’re as good as dead!”

“We’re as good as dead anyway!” shouted Terry, shoving Curtis back against the wall of the elevator.

“C’mon Terry!” shouted Curtis, aiming his machine gun at Terry.

“You want to go? Huh! You want to go, Curtis?” shouted Terry, aiming his gun back at him.

Billy and Shane were stunned with their backs against the wall of the elevator. They didn’t know what to think, say or do. The two leaders of their pack were just about to kill each other.

***

Thai exhaled with relief picking himself off the floor. A terrible coldness came over him knowing he was screwed. He couldn’t go back to Harold and the others. Not by elevator anyway. He was forced to head out into the city being on the run for his life from a pack of crazed killers. Then the night would be upon him and the vampires would sniff him out. There was no escape. A horrible feeling of defeat ran down his spine. The elevator doors opened. Thai ran through the lobby and out the glass revolving doors.

Outside the building, he looked everywhere trying to decide where to go. He didn’t have much time before the crazed bikers would be right on him. He ran full speed across the street and jumped into a dumpster behind a building.

***

Terry and Curtis remained in their standoff until the elevator doors opened at the lobby. They glared at each other refusing to back down from one another.

“We take him alive,” said Curtis sternly ready to pull the trigger.

“We catch him. If he even farts wrong, I’m putting a bullet right between his eyes,” said Terry threateningly.

“Let’s move before he gets away,” Curtis said lowering his gun off Terry and rushing through the lobby.

Outside, they looked everywhere for Thai.

“We need to split up,” said Curtis.

“I’ll head east. Billy? Shane? You two head north and stay within seeing distance of each other. Curtis, you go—”

“—Don’t tell me where to go, butthole,” Curtis responded in a crusty tone heading off to the west.

“We’ll deal with it later,” said Terry as he rushed to the east.

Across the street, Billy crept around the building near the dumpster. He had his gun up, stalking the area searching for any signs of Thai. The sounds of his stepping on dried leaves reached inside the dumpster where Thai was hiding. He continued his manhunt.

Thai opened the dumpster lid slightly just enough to peek at Billy from behind. He opened the lid more and began to climb out, keeping his full attention on Billy who was still scanning the area with his gun. Billy had no clue Thai was behind setting up to make a move. Thai leaped to the pavement and rushed Billy who turned around quickly. Thai kicked the gun out of his hands, struck him in the face three times and jump kicked Billy against the wall of the building like a karate master. Billy fell to the pavement unconscious. He didn’t have time to cry out for help.

Thai picked up the machine gun and rushed to the corner of the building. He peeked around and saw his next target, Shane, who was scanning another area about fifty feet away with his back to him. It would be an easy kill but then a feeling came over him. He began to worry. He had never killed a person before. Being good at Wushu and knocking a guy out who deserved it was one thing but killing another human was creating anxiety and conflict inside of him. He watched Shane like a hawk, trying to form a plan to sneak up behind him, but felt confusion and despair. He glanced down at his Mp5 machine gun feeling reluctant to kill Shane with it. He knew there was no way back to the tower without the bikers. If he stayed outside, the vampires would get him. If the bikers caught him, they’d kill him. He blew it. His plan failed, he thought.

“Shane!” Thai hollered, tossing the machine gun to the pavement.

Shane turned and saw him in the short distance.

“Terry! Curtis! He’s over here!” Shane shouted running towards Thai who had his hands up, surrendering. “Stay right there!”

Shane rushed over with his gun on Thai. He glanced at Billy who was still unconscious lying on the pavement.

“I ought to pump you full of lead right now,” Shane growled kicking Billy’s Mp5 back to him with his foot. 

“Why don’t you then?” asked Thai in a hard tone, standing with his hands up.

“Because you’re our only way back in!” hollered Terry as he came around the corner of the building, his face enraged with anger, walking directly at Thai. “Real cute!” he added, striking Thai in the face with the butt end of his gun.

Thai dropped to the pavement. A numbing flattened feeling was all over his face from the assault.