“Good call Major. Keep sharp.”
Cavell nodded then picked up a hunting rifle and a box of ammo and moved quietly up the stairs.
Usher returned his gaze to the main street, where the Nosferatu were tentatively crawling off in a loose circle. Then one of them began to snap its teeth together in that strange rhythmic pattern they used to communicate through the mist.
Ariel and Usher exchanged glances. Ariel shook his head.
“That sounds to me like a call to arms, Thom. They know we’re close now.”
Usher watched in horror as several more of the creatures crawled out of the mist. They gathered in a sort of loose formation around what appeared to be the leader. Then the alpha clicked and chattered his needle teeth and vibrated his wings. The other circled and moved in ritualistic fashion. Then the creatures broke off into twos and skittered off in different directions. Ariel stared in academic fascination.
“Their communication is complex, non-verbal, seems to be based on those dental acoustics and wing vibrations. Reminds me of a lot of insect communication.”
Usher shook his head. “Reminds me of soldiers getting orders, Ariel. They look to me like they’re sending out search parties. Looking for us. It’s systematic, they’re not dumb animals by any means.
“Fascinating.”
“You can sketch them in your notebook when you get home Ariel. Just now all I want you to focus on is a way to kill them, or at least slow them down.”
Ariel raised an eyebrow at the chattering monsters hunting through the town.
“Yes Thom. But just one of them killed my entire expedition in Iraq twelve years ago. We had local military protecting us from tribal troubles happening at the time. Not soldiers like you but well-armed and brave. They never stood a chance. All I could do then was hide. As the only one among us that’s ever faced one of these things before, that’s all I suggest we do now. ”
Isaac signalled to Usher and then whispered over.
“You’re not going to like this boys. But about twenty of those things are lurking in the mist over the street by the liquor store. They’re just crouched there chattering their fucking teeth. Like really ugly cars ticking over before a race.”
Usher joined him and peered out. His heart sank when he saw just how many undead monsters were lurking in the fog. He leaned in and spoke quietly to Isaac.
“We protect these people to the last bullet. OK?”
Isaac smiled sadly. “I’m right there beside you Thom, even when we’re down to our fists and teeth against those things.”
Usher squeezed Isaac’s forearm.
“I know you are, you always have been. How you holding up? You’re only sipping that morphine like a fine wine.”
Isaac grimaced. “The pain’s keeping me awake. If I dose up I’m no good to anyone. I won’t lie though, it feels pretty fucking intense.”
Usher nodded and looked out again at the Nosferatu.
“There’s way too many of them Isaac. We don’t have enough or the right kind of ammunition.”
“Yeah, it is somewhat of an Alamo, isn’t it.?”
“Let’s just do what can and try to find a way out of here. We still need to stop that Necromancer from getting those bones.”
“I spoke to Jeter. I agree with him about what he told you. We’ve been sent in here to fail and to die. Makes no sense.”
Usher felt his lip curl in disgust that they could have been betrayed in that way.
“And does that make you feel the same way it makes me feel?”
Isaac nodded.
“It makes me unwilling to acquiesce to their request, Major Usher. It makes me want to stay alive long enough to find out who’s thrown us to the wolves, and burn them to the ground.”
“Yeah. That’s exactly how it makes me feel. Talk to the rest of the boys Isaac, get them up to speed.”
“Yes sir.”
Usher peered over his shoulder at the huddled townsfolk. Some were barely able to supress their crying and they held each other and sobbed into one another’s shoulders. The waitress Gina was going from group to group, comforting them as best she could.
The athlete Bobby and the lame boy Billy Larose were crouched back to back, a rifle shared between them, all past grudges buried for now.
Sherriff Daggett was loading his old .357 revolver, his shaking fingers struggling to slot each bullet into the drum.
Usher looked over at his team. Stood there poised and alert were Giant Brock, cold efficient Jeter, slick and agile Santiago, happy-go-lucky Stromberg, cocky gangster Charlie, Charming and deadly Isaac, and erudite but wiry-tough little Ariel. All of them were exhausted, injured, nerves strung out, most of their adrenaline already used up.
Usher spoke in as clear a whisper as he dared to the room.
“We’re not going to fight unless we absolutely have to. We are vastly outnumbered and we have insufficient weaponry by a long way to deal with this threat. From the testimony of Dr Speedman here, who has faced one of these things before, conventional firearms are of limited effectiveness with these creatures. They’re not alive as such, the way we are, that makes them hard to truly kill. They don’t have vision but they do have honed senses, so our best bet is stillness, quiet, and we hope for a window of opportunity to escape from here and get to safety. The clock is ticking, but rushing out of here now into those creatures is a sure suicide. Can you all stay strong and calm for another hour or so?”
There were various nods and whimpers of agreement from the assembled survivors.
Usher’s team just set their jaws tight and nodded.
Isaac gestured over to Usher. He whispered low.
“Thom, the large group are still just crouched on the other side of the street, waiting, but there’s one Vamp on the way over to the building right now.”
Usher turned to the townsfolk and raised his hands.
“Whatever happens in the next few moments, we can’t draw that large group in here. So no matter what…do…not…move.”
Isaac signalled again.
“Major, it’s coming right for us. It’s at the bottom of the steps.”
Usher stealthily peered out of the window and saw it. At least eight feet tall on its hind legs but crawling up the concrete steps of the sheriff’s office. Behind it in the mist crouched an ever increasing group of its brethren.
Usher crouched down as he heard the glass front doors of the building being rattled and tested. He gestured his open hands to the huddled townsfolk in an effort to silence their whimpers of fear.
He whispered. “Don’t. Move.”
The glass door shattered and the townsfolk gripped each other more tightly, muffling their cries into one another’s shoulders. Usher crouched in a position next to the Sherriff’s desk with his Soulblade drawn, where he could attack if he needed to. The rest of his team assumed similar positions.
A clack-clacking of the Nosferatu’s jaws could be heard coming from out in the hallway, followed by the crunch of something large stepping on broken glass. Usher hoped that its signal meant stay there to its brethren and not follow me.
He tried to control his own breathing and heart rate, but felt his hand shaking as he gripped his blade ever tighter. He could sense the rest of his team were the same. They all knew that if this Nosferatu scout detected them it would signal to the others immediately, and there was no way they could defend themselves against them all.
Their only option would be to attack as a unit with their blades and try to neutralize the creature as quietly as possible and hope, against all the odds, that the others would not hear.
Usher heard the snapping of the creature’s jaws and then a dragging sound of something being trailed through the broken glass.
Then the creature crawled down the corridor past the room they were in. A few of the townsfolk drew in an involuntary gasp as they saw the monster up close. It stopped and turned its blind head, scanning the room for the source of the noise. When it turned its head Usher s
aw why people were so afraid, apart from the obvious reason.
The Nosferatu had a person hanging limply in its maw. The creature’s needle teeth were clamped onto its abdomen and the body hung bent backwards at a horrible angle. As it stood there poised and alert, Usher thought the creature looked like a massive gundog with a rabbit in its mouth. The creature backed up a little, folded its wings in tight and then slowly crawled right into the room where twenty townsfolk and a team of battered soldiers were hiding for their lives.
Usher tried to make eye contact with as many people as possible, urging them with his mind to stay still and quiet.
He could see the overwhelming instinctive urge in some of them to get up and run as far away from this threat as they could. Their faces screwed up in terror and hands were gripping the furniture.
The creature padded slowly to the centre of the room, graceful and lithe like a true predator.
A few times it came terrifyingly close to stepping onto someone’s leg or cutting them with its talons, but somehow everyone managed to keep still. It made a horrible rattling whine and then let the body it carried flop to the floor. It rolled a couple of times, leaving streak of dark blood on the linoleum. The creature looked up to the ceiling and gave a hiss. Up close Usher noticed the creature’s antlers were more like branches of cracked and blackened wood. That was when he noticed the male body it had dropped begin to move.
Oh no.
One limp hand reached up, shaking and torn. The eyes flickered open and were staring right into those of Gina the waitress. He tried to reach out to her but his hand faltered. In a barely audible whisper he spoke.
“…please….help…me….”
Gina’s mascara was smeared as the tears ran down her cheeks. Her hand involuntarily reached out to help the stricken man, but Usher caught her attention and vehemently shook his head. At the last moment Gina jerked her hand back, shook her head and mouthed I’m so sorry to the dying man.
The Nosferatu clacked its teeth and then, pinning the man down with its talons, dug its teeth into his abdomen and began to pull. It took every last bit of willpower from every person in the room to grit their teeth and hold their silence as the wounded man moaned and gargled as his intestines were eaten. He feebly tried to punch the creature on its jaw but it was less than a fly to the vampire. Most people could not watch, covering their eyes and mouths with their hands to try and block out the horrible crunching sounds. Some could not tear their eyes away and just stared in abject terror at the fate that awaited them all.
Usher realized that the creature was distracted, busy with its ever weakening kill and that if there was ever an opportunity to silence it, that time was now. He senses that the rest of Empire One felt the same. They all knew that it was only a matter of time before someone cried out or this monster stumbled across them. He felt his team silently assemble, padding as silently as they could with their Soulblades in hand.
Then to Usher’s horror he noticed that across the room, the young hockey player Bobby was raising his hunting rifle and pointing it at the creature.
That gunshot will mean the end for all of us.
Usher held out his hand. He caught Bobby’s eye and then shook his head slowly, mouthing the words don’t shoot.
Bobby seemed so consumed with fear and hatred for the creature that he shook his head and resume his aim on the vampire. Usher waited for the inevitable discharge and then the sound of all the windows breaking in as the other vampires charged them.
Then suddenly Gina reached out her hand and gently placed it on Bobby’s forearm. He lowered the gun slightly and she was smiling gently at him, her eyes imploring. Bobby looked at her for a long moment then his shoulders sagged and he lowered the barrel.
She smiled across at Usher and nodded, who breathed a sigh of relief and gave her the thumbs up.
Wasted as a waitress, that one.
Usher took a deep breath and silently gave his team a series of hand signals. Empire one spread out and padded as quietly as they could in a loose circle around the creature. The Nosferatu obviously did not want to share his kill with the rest of its kind, and was using his scouting mission as an opportunity to feast. It seemed utterly consumed with eating the man, who had thankfully expired. Its head was buried deep, blood and gore greasily smeared all around its jaws.
That’s it, keep munching, gorgeous. Let us come and put your lights out.
Once they had closed in to striking distance, they paused. Up close the creature was as big as a Lion and stank of rotten fish and damp earth. As if it suddenly sensed them, it raised its head up out of the man’s abdomen and opened its mouth. The lips drew back and it seemed about to chatter its jaws together.
It’s going to call the rest.
Suddenly Brock’s massive axe, Freya, came down in a wide arc and hacked into the creature’s long neck. This cut the signal it was about to send short, and although the head was not severed, the neck lolled and snaked uncontrollably. The jaws grabbed for anything in range, making Brock duck and drop his axe. The wings spread and flailed, the taloned limbs slashed out.
But Empire One was upon it with everything they had. Their razor sharp Soulblades came down again and again, hacking into leathery wing and pale spindly limb. They could not allow the creature a moment’s quarter, even stricken it was extremely dangerous, but more than that if it made too much noise in its struggles the rest would be in the building within moments.
The creature was horribly leathery and tough and even with their blades it was like hacking through thick branches with machetes. Their attack was frenzied and desperate, but finally Usher brought his blade down and finished the job Brock had begun, severing its head.
The Nosferatu slumped down onto the linoleum, torn wings twitching, decapitated head still trying to bite. Finally it lay still.
Empire One stood around its brutalized remains, breathing hard, sweat lashing from their faces, blades dripping in black blood. The townsfolk stared at them, almost as afraid of the soldiers as they were of the vampire. In their ragged state, eyes filled with violence, Empire One looked like a troop of barbarian dragon killers from another world.
Usher turned and crept over to the window and discreetly looked out. The rest of the creatures amassed around the streets had not been alerted, and just crept like loathsome insects through the mist.
Usher breathed a deep sigh of relief and tried to stop his hands shaking. He turned to the room, gave a thumbs up and mouthed all ok.
Usher froze as he saw that one of the townsfolk, who had previously been covering her face in terror, had finally opened her eyes. She was a middle aged woman, her red hair done in a well-kept old fashioned back combed style. She was staring at the ruined corpse of the man bleeding on the linoleum in the centre of the room. Her hand reached out and touched it, the fingers coming back dripping in gore. Her expression was one of absolute horror and despair. She could not take her eyes from the body.
Usher knew straight away.
It’s her husband.
The woman started to shake her head, her mouth hanging open. She looked at the blood on her fingers and started to moan low and long. Usher waved a hand at Gina, the caring waitress seemed to have an uncanny knack of calming people down. Gina understood straight away and stared to move towards the woman but when Usher looked back he already knew it was too late.
Oh no.
The suddenly widowed woman started to scream uncontrollably, grasping handfuls of her own hair and raking her nails down her face. The noise was sharp and horribly clear after the enforced silence of the past hour.
Gina finally reached her and took the woman in her arms. “Donna, don’t look at him honey, look at me, just hold on to me.”
She hugged the woman tight, muffling her wailing as best she could and looking over her shoulder at Usher with fear in her blue eyes.
Usher knew the game was up.
Usher felt the ordinary human part of his brain start to shut down, and the pragmat
ic soldier take over. His body moved on automatic, picking up one of the shotguns and racking it.
No need for stealth now.
He turned his head and saw the rest of Empire One looking at him with exactly the same certainty in their eyes. They drew Soulblades, picked up the few hunting rifles and shotguns that were on offer. Even Ariel had a police revolver in his hands, breathing heavy and trying to find his courage.
Usher knew his team were ready to fight and die, he had been in more battles with them than he could remember. He turned to the few townsfolk who held firearms.
“Pick your shots. Don’t fire wild, aim for centre mass, finish to the head. Give absolutely no quarter. The rest of you without weapons, keep your heads down.”
Usher watched as Billy Larose and Bobby nodded to one another, taking up position at a window with a box of ammunition between them. Sherriff Dagget stooped panting and sweating at another window, his pistol held in clammy hand. Even Gina stood in the room holding a rifle, her arms shaking, looking at Usher with an imploring gaze, unsure of where to go. Usher nodded to her.
“Gina, take cover behind that big oak desk and keep pointed at the hallway. Next thing you see come in that door, shoot it in the face. Clear?”
Gina took a breath and then nodded, moving over to the desk and aiming shakily at the door.
There followed a strange moment of calm and silence.
Usher looked at the townsfolk, terrified and huddled, ready to defend their lives as best they could. He looked at his team, the closest thing he’d had to family in years. They had fought together, bled together.
Damn if doesn’t look like we’re going to die together.
Usher took in a deep breath, re-channelled his adrenaline so it became a tool not a hindrance. That long moment stretched out over the years that he had fought this secret war against the Unseelie, the countless lives lost, covered up, unknown and unsung.
He took another deep breath and swallowed his fear.
The Last Line Series One Page 52