by Phil Wohl
collective “No!” could be heard as Max gave further instructions.
“If we slow down just a little bit, we should be at the optimal spot for solar exposure.”
“See you on the other side!” Cal Brewster yelled, as the group slammed head-long into the raucous mob and made sure that no one from Lowery’s group perished. This was important because Hartwell thought it would be wise to go it alone and not share the beach with any of Lowery’s vampires or protectors. It was vampire paranoia at its finest, but it was also a detailed execution of an absolutely brilliant plan.
One-by-one the lifeless members of the team thudded down into the fluffy Beach Haven sand, while Lowery’s crew made a wide u-turn and headed back to the Inn for a night of signing corny songs and slurping down potent, slushy drinks.
As the party raged on to the wee morning hours, Abraham Ellison remained detached from the group and was sleeping peacefully in his room. Little did he know that the coming day would be a drastic contrast to the relative incubation he had experienced, but he would welcome the change of pace with open arms.
THIRTY-FOUR
Kayla was still fast asleep at 4:44 am, but the same could not be said of the only other inhabitant in the house. Samuel’s eyes had been twitching and his body gyrating for hours as the final stage of the download was processed. Only minutes earlier, his body had come to a complete rest and then the top half of his body transitioned from horizontal to vertical and his eyes opened, revealing an intense light blue glow.
Samuel smiled as the instructions for the morning were downloaded, which was the combined effort of Max and Daniel to plant a comprehensive schematic code. All Samuel saw was Orca killer whales everywhere blanketed the ocean floor, while digging up the one-thousand intended hunter targets. Hartwell and his guys were hoping that Samuel would arise before the dawn in order to take advantage of as much sun as possible, as this part of the plan came to fruition as he exited the front of the house without using the door. This next-generation hybrid being simply transported himself through the wall without doing any damage to the structure or himself.
The initial phase of the plan went into play as Samuel hit the water. On impact he splintered off into a thousand Orca killer whales that instantaneously locked on to tracking coordinates, as the activities of the jam-packed day were officially underway.
Once Samuel had uncovered the body of a hunter, he used his powerful tail to flip the wilted bodies of these men and women to shore where they would await the powerful rays of the sun to restore their powers. It would take a few hours for full restoration, and then the contact with Samuel affectively rerouted these hunters away from immediately attacking their vampires and to the water outside of Hartwell’s house. The completion of each hunter phase would increase the power of the remaining individual Orca’s and improve the efficiency and power of Samuel’s actions, which enabled him to speed up the process and effectively circle the globe during the morning hours.
While the underwater operation was well underway, Kayla woke up because she sensed a change in the house and in the very air that she breathed. It was 6:00 am and it was still relatively dark outside, as she made her way down the hall, stopping to peek inside of Samuel’s room to make sure he was all right.
“Isn’t that interesting,” Kayla said out loud as she was both surprised and excited to see no sign of Samuel amidst a perfectly made bed.
Since Kayla was not part of the nightly battles, she had excluded herself from any talk of strategy or fighting. The resident peacenik - even before Joe Winters and his family made their presence known - was much happier in her tight little world, which was complete with images of fluffy teddy bears and Adirondack chairs at the beach.
As the sun began to rise above the horizon, the 18 beheaded members of Hartwell’s house experienced their bodies and heads reuniting. And, as the sun’s full affects poured through their beings, a renewed sense of awareness and hope blanketed the family. For this would be their day to emerge from the shadows of obscurity and reclaim their place within mainstream society, free from discrimination and scorn. At least that’s how it was written up on paper…
Body parts fused and internal organs started pumping again, signaling the much-anticipated rebirth. As family members came back on line, they immediately zipped back along the shore toward the house.
Daniel was in front of Hartwell, as their intense speed blurred the scenery around them.
“Those extra few seconds of rest really made the difference,” the son said in a sarcastic tone.
Hartwell playfully chased Daniel into the house, “Wise guy!”
The family gathered in the main room as Kayla feverishly worked on having breakfast ready for everyone when they came home.
“Good to see you again, Kay-Kay!” Grandma’ Emily happily exclaimed.
“It’s great to be seen again, grandma’!”
Thaddeus was always working with his hands on one project after another, and this morning was no exception. He was especially excited to have the opportunity to be with so many hunters in one place, so he banged out a large neon sign that read, “WELCOME HUNTERS.”
He walked inside the house and directed his question at Hartwell, “What time do you think they’ll start arriving?”
Hartwell looked over at his brain-trust and Daniel accessed the health of each hunter while Maxwell pinpointed each hunter’s location. They combined thoughts and then transmitted a virtual map and arrival board to the right of the TV in the main room.
“Thanks! Can you leave that up there?” Thaddeus said.
Daniel looked at Thaddeus and replied, “No problem, grandpa'!”
The house was alive amidst preparations for the day. After cleaning up after arriving at home, everyone sat down for a good meal before attacking their individual chores for the day.
“You know how much we eat,” Emily said to the group, “so you can imagine how much us times about 100 would consume.”
“We have to go shopping after breakfast,” Maggie said.
“But, I would recommend staying away from fish for either lunch or dinner,” a cheeky Andrew added, as everyone at the table got a good chuckle on this day of positives that warmed Kayla’s heart as she served stack after stack of pancakes to a famished group.
The group hit the local grocery stores hard, cleaning out Beach Haven Natural Foods and Beach Haven Produce Market before 10:00 am, leaving behind a few thousand dollars and making sure that every item was scanned through the intricate Point of Sale systems.
“Good thing another truck is coming after lunch,” the manager at the produce market commented.
Thaddeus built a temporary outdoor kitchen, complete with a massive grill, to handle the overflow of preparation and cooking. His good friend Garrison proved to be a quite helpful assistant, and he also shed some light on previously unreleased information.
“You know, he was deciding between releasing the hunters and letting Samuel duplicate the siege from Lowery’s group in the sky,” Garrison stated.
Thad kept working but Gary now had his full attention.
“I thought it would be easier from a strategic standpoint to simply let Samuel replicate the hoard, but he wanted to let the hunters free. Must have still had some guilt in keeping Cal down there?”
Thaddeus knew that Hartwell meant everything that he did, and he did everything that he meant. Thad stopped banging nails for a moment as the two men looked at each other and exclaimed, “Nah!”
THIRTY-FIVE
The cooking was fast and furious inside and outside of the house for the next few hours as weary travelers started to arrive in bunches.
There were four common questions of the Lowery-linked hunters:
1.“Where are we?
2.“Why am I not killing a vampire right now?”
3.“Is this heaven?”
4.“Is there any logical reason why we are eating with vampi
res and protectors?”
The answers to those questions were:
1.Beach Haven, New York
2.“Because you have to get your strength back before killing one later.”
3.“Possibly.”
4.“Because it’s his house and he bought all of this food.”
Samuel arrived home at about 4:00 pm, after stopping for a few hours in California to do some surfing, which apparently was his form of meditation. He was a good son and called ahead, via internal communication, to his parents and told him he would be home soon. By the time he walked through the front door, he was greeted with a massive roar and applause from all of the hunters, who appreciated his efforts in freeing them from their watery graves. He was also greeted with a hero’s welcome when he stepped into the main room, but Samuel and everyone in the house knew that there was still much work to do on this day.
Once he sat down and had a snack, consisting of a few bags of both blood and Doritos, it was time to talk about the final strategy for the battle that night.
“I would like to make sure that we keep the fight within the confines of the park,” Hartwell stated.
Max checked his internal capabilities and found an application he could utilize to section off the thousands of fighters into a prescribed two-mile area.
“I can do that,” he said to Hartwell and the group.
Braden Lawrence joined them for the conversation, because he was obviously a key person in the plan.
“How is this