Vampire Apocalypse: A World Torn Asunder (Book 1) (31 page)

“He’s mine,” the monster
growled.

Harris paled as the creature
reached for him and he braced himself for the attack. Suddenly,
from behind him, Harris heard an almighty roar and watched in
disbelief while the creature’s head and most of his upper torso
disappeared in a spray of blood and bone. The attack was so sudden
and so devastating that all fighting stopped and everyone watched
the giant, headless creature sway and then collapse to the
floor.

Humans and vampires continued to
stare at the corpse in utter shock, unable to move until a loud
yell drew their attention back down the corridor. Harris couldn’t
believe his eyes. A smile spread across his face when he recognised
the figure.

“Warkowski!” he whispered, “you
beautiful bastard.”

Warkowski stood some twenty feet
away; his body covered in bandages, holding the biggest damn
machine gun Harris had ever seen. “Alright, unless you bastards
want some of the same,” he warned, “I suggest you all just cool it
and move on back a bit.”

Warkowski's voice carried
easily. Harris could see the vampires look uncertainly at their
leader.

Nero looked at the devastated
remains of Pollock and then back at the huge weapon in Warkowski's
arms.

“I said move back!” Warkowski
shouted and let loose a short burst at the closest vampire. The
bullets that slammed into the creature tore it clean in half.
“There’s plenty more left if you want some,” he warned with the
weapon pointed at Nero.

Nero nodded quickly at the rest
of his pack and they hurriedly withdrew.

Harris and the remaining humans
quickly gathered up those unable to walk and made their way over
behind Warkowski. Harris” eyes scanned the many dead men and women
around him and sighed deeply at the loss. Two men lifted Reiss in
their arms and carried him forward. Just as he was about to leave,
Harris noticed movement from a crumpled form over by the wall.

“I don’t suppose there’s any
chance of a beer?” Rodgers smiled. Harris rushed over to help his
friend.

“It’s just as well you hit the
wall with your head,” Harris commented when he saw the trickle of
blood still seeping from a wound on his forehead, “nothing major
there to damage.”

Rodgers” smile grew into a
grin.

“What are you waiting for,
Warkowski? Let them have it.” Harris came up behind Warkowski and
nodded toward the remaining vampires. The men faced the vampires
over a gap of twenty feet, while the vampires looked warily at the
massive machine gun in the big man’s hands. Most of the other
survivors had already started back to the other barrier.

“Ah, bit of a problem there, I’m
afraid.” Warkowski grinned.

“What do you mean?” Rodgers
asked and hobbled up beside him.

“Well, I was trying to make a
big impact, you understand,” he continued and then nodded at the
huge gun in his arms. “Only problem being there wasn’t much in the
way of ammunition and--”

“But you said there was plenty
left.” Harris fought to keep his voice low.

“Well, I, ah, exaggerated a
bit.” Warkowski shrugged.

“When you say a bit--”

“Well, a lot actually. I used my
last rounds to kill that vampire over there.”

The vampires were beginning to
mutter among themselves and inch forward again.

“You’re mad; you know that,
don’t you? Stark raving mad!” Harris exclaimed and eyed the
vampires. “I think we’ve just been rumbled. On my mark I suggest we
get the hell out of here.”

The others nodded.

“Okay, RUN!”

Chapter 32

“Leave me here, God damn it!”
Reiss shouted at the two men who carried him. “You won’t make it if
you have to drag me. I’ll never be able to climb out of here
anyway.”

The two men looked uncertainly
at each other.

“Come on, guys,” Reiss
persisted, “if you leave me close to the armoury at least I can
take some of the bastards with me.”

The three of them had set off
with the others while Warkowski held the vampires at bay. The other
humans had disappeared at this stage, and the two men--Reiss didn’t
even know their names--were struggling with the extra weight. Reiss
could tell they were torn between fear for their own safety and
loyalty to him. They kept looking back the way they had come and he
knew that they’d drop him the instant the vampires appeared. They
didn’t need much encouragement and immediately made for a doorway a
short distance further on up the corridor.

“Okay, drop me here and leave
your grenades. I’ll set up a little surprise for our friends.”

“Well, if you’re sure…” the
second man muttered and found it hard not to show his relief.

They left Reiss sitting on a box
of ammunition with a collection of grenades around him. He had
positioned himself at an angle to the door, which gave him a view
back down the corridor. At least I’ll see them coming, he
thought.

The two men left quickly.
Neither one was able to look Reiss in the eye when they hurried out
of the room.

Can’t really blame them, he
thought and readied himself.

The men ran down the corridor,
but the vampires gained rapidly. Rodgers limped badly and Harris
literally had to pull him along, supporting him as best he could.
Warkowski supported his other side. Between them they dragged the
injured man down the corridor.

With only a twenty-foot
advantage, it wouldn’t be long before the vampires caught up with
them. They ran expecting to feel sharp claws rake their backs at
any second. Harris had no idea what they were going to do even if
they did make it to the barrier. There wasn’t time to plan anything
and they were out of the “magic” bullets. There was just no way to
delay the creatures any further.

He hoped Sandra had made it
out.

Reiss watched the three men
struggle along the corridor. The vampires were right behind them;
he could see about ten of them from where he sat. In fact, the
creatures looked as though they were keeping station behind the
men, rather than actually trying to catch them.

Like a mouse playing with its
prey, Reiss thought. He judged the distance to the struggling men
and performed a quick calculation. He offered a silent prayer, and
then reached down and pulled the pins on the grenades in his lap
and lay back.

I hope I’ve timed this
right.

Harris knew that the vampires
were playing. They taunted them and leaned forward to swipe at
exposed flesh. Then they withdrew, only to catch up and swipe
again. They knew that they had won, that the humans had finally run
out of surprises, and they were enjoying their victory. Long
scratches of varying depths covered Harris” back where they slashed
at him with just enough force to tear the skin but not enough to
take him to the ground, but he continued on in the vain hope that
something might happen.

And then, suddenly, it did.

The explosion ripped apart the
whole wall to their right. The force picked the three men up and
threw them further down the corridor, where they crashed heavily in
a jumbled heap. The force of the explosion completely decimated the
wall and most of the ceiling.

Debris and dust covered Harris.
He lay curled in a ball as the shrapnel continued to fall. The
noise of the explosion was deafening in the close confines of the
corridor, and his ears rang painfully while he struggled to his
feet. He looked around and saw both Warkowski and Rodgers stir, but
could see no sign of the vampires.

His leg hurt. He looked down to
see a small sliver of metal protruding from his thigh. “God, will
this night ever end?” he pleaded out loud before he pulled at the
shrapnel. He checked the wound and nodded when he saw that it
wasn’t bleeding badly. He turned to see what had happened and saw
that the roof had caved in behind them, completely blocking the
corridor.

Realisation came slowly, but
when it did, a low chuckle rose in his throat. By the time Rodgers
had limped up behind him, he was laughing and holding his side with
the pain that lanced through his battered body.

“What’s so funny?” Rodgers
asked.

“They were caught on the other
side,” he managed between fits of laughter. Rodgers joined in, the
relief from this short reprieve made them laugh all the more.

“We better move that won’t keep
them long.” Warkowski broke up the party. The other two sobered
fast and set off toward the barrier.

Dan Harrington supervised the
retreat. They had waited as long as they dared and must now look to
the living. The unexpected arrival of some of the defenders, with
news of Warkowski's rescue, had buoyed the spirits of the small
party. Hope had soared that they might actually get a few more out
alive.

Harrington had left his daughter
and moved to organise the retreat. Sandra ran to each of the
survivors and questioned each one. Her questions became more
desperate as the line of men and women grew shorter.

The door to the tower was set
into the wall behind them. Dan supervised, while people lined up
and went through in single file. The tower measured some
twenty-five feet in diameter and contained a walled circle that ran
around the circumference. The wall began about six inches into the
tower and rose to about four feet in height. Inside the enclosure
was a pool of water about three feet in depth. At the far side of
the tower a series of metal rungs traced a line up the entire
height of the tower.

The survivors waded through the
water and began to climb. Harrington looked up and judged the climb
to be some two hundred feet straight up, and then another fifty or
so back down on the outside to reach the ground. He glanced up,
frowned at the brightening sky, and looked at his watch.

My God, he thought, we’ve fought
all night.

“All right, people,” he said
aloud, “let’s make all this effort and sacrifice worth something.
It’s time to get out of here.”

Harris and his two colleagues
rounded the corner and saw the barrier. He looked quickly behind
him and could see no sign of the vampires. His heart beat faster
and hope began to grow. “Come on,” he urged the others, “not far
now.”

Nero fidgeted while his pack
cleared the debris. He fumed that he hadn’t beheaded the humans
when he had the chance, but his pride had demanded retribution and
he had enjoyed the chase. “Next time,” he vowed, “I will rip them
to shreds and take my time over their carcasses.”

He marvelled at the humans'
ingenuity. Twenty vampires dead. He shook his head. He would not
have thought they could kill one of his kind, let alone twenty, and
he itched to finish this embarrassment. The vampires were too slow
for him and, with a bellow of rage; he grabbed several creatures,
threw them aside, and attacked the debris. His great strength
pulverised rock and produced a hole in the barrier in seconds.

“Now,” he shouted, “tear them to
pieces!”

And the remaining creatures
flooded through.

The three men had reached the
tower door when they heard the scream of triumph back down the
corridor.

“Come on, hurry,” Harris
encouraged the other two men. He pulled open the door and ushered
them inside. Harris followed and immediately looked for a means to
secure the door. The door lock was a simple one that would not hold
the vampires for long. He turned the key and told Warkowski and
Rodgers to begin climbing, and then he dragged the pump machine
that Reilly had used earlier in front of the metal door.

Grunting with the effort, Harris
dropped the machine flush with the door and nodded.

That’ll have to do, he thought
and then glanced upwards. Warkowski and Rodgers were already a
quarter of the way up and further past them he could see some of
the others near the top.

“Thank God,” he whispered, “at
least Sandra is safe.”

The first loud clang against the
metal door reverberated around the tower as he began to climb.

The door exploded inward with
such force that it landed clear across the far side of the tower.
The vampires poured in so swiftly that those in the lead failed to
realise that there was an enclosure until the pain began to
register. They waded into the water and then suddenly stopped. They
howled as the blessed water seeped through their clothes and began
to burn like acid. Flesh and bone melted away in seconds; the
creatures lost their balance and fell into the water. The screams
intensified as arms, knees and faces were the next to touch the
water. The pitiful creatures howled while their bodies decomposed
in the cool water until, finally, they slumped forward and slid
beneath the surface.

The other vampires had barely
enough time to see the trap and paused at the door to change to
their bat forms. When they were ready, they rose into the air and
flew after the escaping humans. Halfway up, they felt the prickly
sensation of the dawn’s light and screamed when the faint light
began to burn their bodies.

Small pockets of flame appeared
on the lead vampires. One by one they fell to the ground. Two
vampires fell into the pool below and thrashed wildly when the
blessed water immediately seared their thin wings and destroyed
them in seconds. Another vampire tried to continue flying despite
the flames, but suddenly erupted into a fireball and fell in a
smouldering heap in the corner.

Nero felt the prickly sensation
of the light, but his skin was much tougher than the newer
vampires. He looked up and saw Harris near the top. The
frustrations of this whole debacle consumed him and he screamed at
his hated foe. That man had done this and he would pay.

Heedless of the pain that seared
through him, he continued up into the light and forced his body to
grow and mutate while he shot upwards. His wings expanded until
they reached across the entire tower. His features changed, his
lips drew further back, teeth grew and his skin became scaled to
protect against the light.