Dead by Dawn

by Wellman, Bret

  “You might want to step back,” he said.

  When Adam was out of the way Keith threw the crowbar, shattering the front door.

  “Make sure you put that back,” said Joe, stepping down from the drivers side.

  Adam noticed that both men were armed. Keith had an assault rifle strapped around his shoulder and Joe had a pistol on his hip. Joe also had a wooden stake looped through his belt.

  Glass crackled under their feet as they headed inside. Barry went in behind them and Adam felt Sarah walk up to his side.

  They hadn’t gone ten feet in and Barry was already scarfing down a stick of beef jerky. Keith was scooping up armfuls of potato chips and Joe was carrying a rack full of peanuts out to his truck.

  “You can help us fill the truck bed if you want,” Keith said on his way by.

  “Sure,” said Adam.

  He eyed the long aisles of goods: it was a goldmine. Sarah fanned out a couple grocery bags and handed him one.

  “This is going to be like that TV show,” she said. “Where they make people run through a grocery store and grab everything they can.”

  “The price is right,” said Adam.

  Barry began snapping his fingers in rapid succession, “No that’s not it.”

  “Super Market Sweep you jackwagons,” Keith said as he passed by them.

  “Yup,” Barry said as if he had to okay the answer.

  Adam gave a small shake of his head before going back to work.

  They began in the candy section and worked their way out from there.

  Chapter 31

  As it turned out, supplies were far thinner than they had imagined. It wasn’t that they were in imminent danger of running out, but the claim that they could hold out for months was vastly overstated.

  Joe and the others in their room helped the situation slightly on their third day there. Joe instructed everyone to a corn field where they filled the bed of his truck three times with ears of corn. The entire population of the school was able to eat corn that night.

  Many more people flocked to the corn field the next day to scavenge. At the present moment it was their main source of incoming food. Their second source was canned food from houses. The local grocery store had been picked clean by the third day.

  It was now the fifth day and most of the people in the school were growing restless. There was no new news coming in concerning the vampires which was beginning to wear on everyone. It was becoming apparent that most thought they would be allowed home by now. Very few had expected the vampires to last so long.

  Joe was walking through the halls when the lights flickered on over his head. Right on cue: one hour until sundown.

  A familiar humming sound came from the gym as he passed. The day before, three washing machines were brought in. They had been running overtime ever since.

  Early on in the previous day Joe and Keith went around and figured out how the school was operating. It was Joe’s idea, he figured being left in the dark on how the place was ran could be life threatening.

  There was a long line of solar panels on the roof that charged batteries and allowed them to have some minor power during the day. The lights, however, ran off an industrial-sized generator. They found it in an old room located in an area of the school that wasn’t used for any classrooms. It looked as if it had missed out the last time the school was remodeled, sometime in the eighties or nineties. It was built into the walls and made up most of the room.

  Joe didn’t like that no soldiers stood guard over the generator, At the very least, it was locked away inside, that had to be something. The giant glass panel that took up half of the door and just begged to be broken, made him doubt the security, however.

  Joe lowered his ball cap so it blocked the blinding light that was now glaring down on him. The contrast in the hallway from just a few seconds before was astounding. It went from being dark and gloomy to full on sunny day in seconds. The only shadows now were directly under objects, looking sharp and artificial.

  Wind struck him as one of the soldiers turned on the large fan at the end of the hall. His hat might have blown off if he hadn’t just pulled it down tight.

  He knew they needed the fans; the ultraviolet lights could get pretty hot without them. It was another situation he wasn’t comfortable with. If they lost the fans the lights would eventually burn out and they would lose them too. Lights prone to overheating were not something he wanted to bank his life on.

  Outside he could hear the town’s tornado siren beginning to blair. It was loud at first, then silent as the microphone rotated away, then loud again as it came back around.

  Their curfew had come and the army was making sure they knew it.

  The siren would continue its cry for another ten minutes just like it had every evening before.

  Back in the room there were large patio umbrellas set up over all the cots. There was also an entire patio set near the front of the room. Keith was sitting at the table playing Monopoly with the boy, girl, and lawyer.

  Sherry and Chip were both reading books. Sherry’s nose was red and her makeup was smeared under her eyes, as it had been since the first time he saw her. Both of them still kept to themselves. Joe didn’t mind, he liked that he wasn’t constantly stuck in as many random conversations.

  Lindsay was nowhere to be found. She too preferred to keep to herself. If the girl wasn’t sleeping she was off wandering with her arms crossed in front of her chest, never helping to gather resources.

  Adam had offered her a ride as they went scavenging the day before. She just shook her head and stammered a refusal as she walked away.

  It kind of pissed Joe off. Someone unwilling to help wasn’t worth the time to save. They would last a whole lot longer without the dead weight. If it was up to him, he would boot her out the front door in the morning, then tell her to come back with supplies or don’t come back at all.

  At least she never took too much food. On the few rare occasions when she did eat she took small portions and merely nibbled.

  “Hey there big guy,” said Adam when he stepped in. “Tell your buddy to quit cheating.”

  “Me?” asked Keith, aghast. “The damn lawyer’s working you into bankruptcy and you don’t even realize it.”

  “I’m filing a class action,” said Matt the lawyer. “Giving away my strategy’s going to cost you two hundred.”

  He reached over the board where Keith promptly swatted his hand away.

  “Lay your greedy fingers on my money and I’m breaking them.”

  This made Sarah let out a laugh that was followed up with a snort. In turn the snort made Adam laugh.

  “What the hell was that?” he asked.

  Sarah just blushed and shrugged.

  “I've been thinking,” said Joe, stepping closer to the table. “We should take the kids out shooting tomorrow. Get them a little more familiar with a gun.”

  “Who are you calling kids?” asked Adam.

  Joe smirked. “Anyone in this room not able to grow a beard, excluding Sherry. Although, if Sherry and Chip wanted to come that would be fine.”

  Whether Chip and Sherry had heard him they didn’t let on.

  Matt however lifted a finger. “You guys aren’t planning to leave me behind are you?”

  Joe’s smirk faded a little. “The lawyer can come too.”

  “So everyone then?” asked Sarah.

  “I don’t think we can afford to waste so much of our ammo,” said Keith.

  Joe shrugged. “I figured we could stop at that sporting goods store. I bet they have ammo in the back.”

  Keith nodded, satisfied.

  Joe went to his cot and sat back. It was quite pleasant under the patio umbrella, it was perfect for blocking the ceiling lights. It was his own little block of shade on a sunny day. The thought made him long for a glass of lemonade.

  “How’re the books?” he asked.

  Chip looked up. He removed his glasses for a moment and rubbed his eyes. “You
ever read The Stand?”

  “Can’t say I have.”

  “Oh, well it’s Stephen King. I found it in the school library, though I’m not sure how it got there. I don’t think it’s very appropriate for the environment. At a school with kids I mean. Good book anyways.”

  Sherry folded her book and looked up at Chip. “I still can’t believe you chose that one.”

  “Why?”

  “Look around, you might as well have picked up Salem’s Lot for goodness sake.”

  “It’s not like that. You’re over thinking it honey.”

  “You’ll have to tell me how it ends,” said Joe, lying back on his cot.

  He stared up at the umbrella. He was content just listening to the others as they argued over Monopoly and why Sherry and Chip should have picked different books. He relaxed, letting the clock on the wall tick off the minutes.

  Sleep was creeping up on him and he stifled a yawn. One of the drawbacks of getting up so early was that he got tired at night. It wasn’t anything he couldn’t fight through or would even complain about, he just tended to call it in early most nights. Tonight was no exception.

  Joe leaned forward and untied his bootlaces. He stretched his head to the side, pulling on the muscle in his neck. When it felt properly stretched he laid back on the cot and drew the blanket over himself.

  He let his mind drown out the noise. They were soon no more than a hum in the background. Joe felt the cool air blowing on him from the fan and let his eyes drift closed.

  First thing in the morning he was planning to venture out. The town had been ransacked and was low on supplies. Maybe he could find a supermarket. That would buy them another week.

  As his conscience drifted closer to sleep, he wondered what route to go. He was going to take everyone out shooting later on, so the direction of the sporting goods store seemed as good as any. He would stop there on his way, after that he would go a good thirty miles out to search. If he was going to go out that far he would probably want to bring Keith with him. If he ran into hostile people or the truck broke down, it would be good to have the extra help.

  Joe’s eyes snapped open. The lights were out. The classroom they were in had no windows and was pitch black, not even moonlight could get to them. It was true darkness.

  Joe didn’t know how long he had been asleep, judging from the soft snores around him it was long enough for everyone else to have quit what they were doing and go to sleep themselves.

  Why are the damn lights out?

  If it was already morning there would be some sunlight drifting in from the hall. There was none.

  He sat up. He was thankful he slept in his clothes. Both his 9mm pistol and stake were securely on his hips.

  “Keith,” he whispered.

  No response.

  Joe stood. He took a few steps forward. His shins hit a cot and he almost fell over.

  “What the hell!” Keith started.

  Joe steadied himself. “The lights!”

  The cot squeaked. Joe was sure Keith was sitting up.

  “How long have they been out?” Keith’s voice was groggy.

  Joe shrugged even though he knew he couldn’t be seen. It was a force of habit. “I just woke up myself.” He felt around under his cot until he found his hat. He pulled it on. “If I had to guess I’d say not very long. I think the abrupt change in lighting’s what woke me up.”

  Someone worked the slide of a gun nearby and Joe was sure Keith was holding one of the shotguns. Joe picked up his holy water filled milk jug.

  If he was going to be standing in the dark it felt a hell of a lot better with the holy water in his hand.

  A sharp light flashed on from a few cots farther into the room. It was small, but bright.

  “What’s going on?” came Adam’s voice.

  Joe realized the kid must have been using his phone as a flashlight.

  “It’s probably nothing,” said Keith, his figure dimly lit at the edge of the light. “Go back to bed. Joe and I are going to go figure things out.”

  “I’m going with you.”

  “You’re staying here,” said Joe. “Watch the others for us.”

  Adam hesitated. “Well, at least take my phone with you.”

  “Alright,” said Keith, walking up to take the phone. “Thanks.”

  “Keep the light off when we’re in the halls,” said Joe.

  “What?” asked Keith.

  “We don’t need to be drawing extra attention to ourselves.”

  A blood curdling scream sliced through the darkness and echoed down the hall. Joe’s head snapped towards the door. The scream repeated. It was wild and desperate, the scream of somebody being murdered.

  “I’ll lead,” said Joe, slipping the pistol into his free hand. “We’re heading for the generators. We have to get these lights back on.”

  He began moving for the door, behind him the light clicked off.

  Adam hadn’t been the only one to use his cellphone as a flashlight. Hundreds of these small lights were stepping into the hall, peeking out from the classrooms.

  Whoever was screaming had fallen silent.

  The light coming from the cell phones gave Joe a rudimentary view of the hallway. It was dim and the direction the lights were pointing kept shifting. Between them and a shaft of moonlight coming through an exterior window, he thought he could move fairly confidently, without the fear of running into anything. There were still large gaps of shadow in between the tiny lights, but he had to take what he could get.

  Joe began making his way down the hall.

  “What’s going on?” came a worried voice as he passed by another classroom.

  Partway down the hallway, he twisted the cap of his milk jug off and let it fall to the ground.

  A gunshot went off. He froze. It sounded like it came from the front of the school.

  Had it been the army?

  A salvo of shots followed. Judging by the rate of fire, there were at least two or three guys shooting.

  There was another scream, this one close. One of the cell phones near the end of the hall tumbled to the ground. It landed face down, blocking out the light.

  Joe crept forward, doing his best to keep his footsteps silent. He moved as fast as he dared.

  As he got closer to the fallen phone he could hear somebody moaning. He squinted into the darkness, trying to make the person out.

  There was a figure standing in front of him, it jumped forward.

  Joe had just enough time to make out the fangs and red eyes. He brought up the milk jug between them. When the vampire collided it smashed the jug against his chest, sending a geyser of holy water blasting out the top.

  The creature reared back, bringing its pale hands to its face. Smoke drifted out from underneath. When it pulled its hand away half of its face was missing.

  Its hair had been stripped away along with its right eye and a chunk of its nose. It only had one fang and the right side of its cheek was pulled back in a skeleton’s smile. The skin was still sizzling in spots, melting away.

  Joe lifted the milk jug and splashed more holy water into its face. The vampire fell backwards and he stepped over the top of it, staring down. The vampire clawed at its new wounds. Joe dumped the rest of the holy water on its head.

  The vampire’s skull peeled back and collapsed in on itself. The vampire went still before he was even done pouring.

  “Shit,” Keith huffed somewhere close behind.

  The gunfire near the front of the school was increasing. More screams were rising up, coming from almost every direction. They echoed up and down the halls, crisscrossing at the intersections.

  Joe spotted a figure as it passed through the ray of moonlight. Seconds later, a nearby cellphone went dark. The other lights around it scattered.

  As he watched, two more lights went dark at the opposite end of the hall.

  “Come on,” Joe said. He began to run.

  He wasn’t the only one, people were running out of
their rooms. They didn’t go in any particular direction. They were panicked and seemed to be running just to run. Some were using their flashlights to guide their steps, while others were running blind.

  Joe and Keith made it down the next hall and were almost to the corner when somebody passed them. It was a man in his boxers. He was yelling and in a dead sprint.

  There was a vampire lying in wait around the edge of the corner. As soon as the man passed, it pounced.

  Both figures went tumbling to the ground, the vampire ending up on top. The man flailed as the vampire bit down on the lower part of his neck.

  Keith whipped his knife out and stuck it into the vampires back. The silver on the knife’s blade penetrated deep.

  The vampire arched and howled at the ceiling. It tried to reach around, but couldn’t get its hand on the knife. Its skin began to flake and it convulsed in a seizure. By the time Keith could get a grip to pull the knife free, the vampire had gone stiff.

  The man pushed the dead vampire off and curled into a ball. A small trickle of blood oozed from his neck.

  Joe wished he could help the man, but knew they had to move on. At least he knew the vampire couldn’t attack him anymore.

  “Shit,” Keith practically spat the word. “This is crazy.”

  The echoing screams rang in Joe’s ears. Between that and the gunfire, it was getting hard to think. In a matter of minutes the school had been transformed into a madhouse.

  The shadows seemed so thick, his mind drew figures that may or may not have been there. They reached for him, some lingering and waiting for their chance to pounce.

  Joe pulled the stake free from his belt and began moving again. This time he went slower, trying to be more cautious. If another vampire jumped out at them, he would be ready.

  The noise faded a little as they reached the end of the next intersection. Joe took it as a good sign as he continued on to the room that housed the large generator.

  The panel of glass was smashed out and the door swung wide open.

  There wasn’t anyone in the room as far as they could tell. The usual heavy hum of the generator was nowhere to be found.