by Phil Maxey
Joel didn’t see the light at first, for it was faint, but he felt it. The thing’s face in front of him broke apart as if its very essence would be hurt by the coming illumination.
Joel took the opportunity of the things distraction and forced his rage into his limbs. His left boot broke free first, and he dug it back into the cliff surface next to him.
He looked up. Flashlight beams were shining down into the cavern. Donnie was just a few yards above him.
Joel looked back down into darkness. Into nothing.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Anna felt Donnie’s forehead. “You’re running hot, even for a werewolf.” She smiled. She had no idea what temperature a werewolf should be, but she was sure it wasn’t as hot as how his skin felt. “Still got the headache?”
He went to answer when the building shook, and a distant boom rang out below them.
Donnie’s eyes grew wide. He immediately winced. “That boom wasn’t only in my head, right?”
Anna smiled again. “They’re bringing the roof of the cavern down, no vamps will be coming through there. You did really well, you were brave.”
“Pffft… All I did was get laid out and then captured.” He looked confused. “Still don’t know how they got the drop on me. I was alone, I was sure of it, there weren’t nothing out there in that parking lot. Next thing I know, I feel a pain in the back of my head and I wake up with a bunch of dumb soldiers grinning at me.”
“Joel might have an idea how that happened…”
In the staff room, Joel leaned back in the comfiest chair in the sixteen by sixteen foot space. Carla entered the room.
“It done?” said Holland, sitting on the table in the center of the room.
She blew out her cheeks. Then wiped her hand across her forehead which just made it dirtier than it already was. “Nothing’s coming through there now. It would take the vamps weeks to clear a tunnel again.”
“Doesn’t mean they won’t try,” said Joel. “And thanks for the rescue party.”
Carla walked to the water dispenser, pouring herself some in a beaker. “You’re lucky the radios in the pickup got through to the prison. Otherwise, it would have been too late from what you told us.”
Holland looked back at Joel. “Yeah, just what the fuck was that thing?”
“Don’t know. Some new kind of Alkron that we haven’t come across before.”
“At least we know it’s not too fond of light,” said Carla.
Holland shook his head, and sat back down on the table. “This shit just keeps getting weirder.”
Joel went to talk again when Marina entered the room.
“Hey, sweet cakes. Glad to see you heard my offer,” said Holland.
Marina’s eyes briefly looked at Joel then moved across to Carla, before resting back on Holland. “Yeah, well, figured I’m more useful up here.”
“Who’s with Jess and Jasper?” said Joel. He immediately regretted asking. It suggested Marina had left them unattended which was not what he meant.
“Shannon for a bit then Mary… The noises, those from explosions in the tunnels under the prison?”
“Sure are,” said Carla. She nodded towards the dispenser. “Water?”
Marina nodded. “So… what’s the plan now? We just hide inside these walls? Waiting for a more obvious attack?” She took a beaker with water from Carla. “And where are we getting more of this stuff?”
“The prison’s surrounded by canals. We’re going to have to make daily trips outside and get what we can,” said Joel.
“Obviously in the daytime,” said Carla.
Boyd walked into the room, walked up to his father, eyeing the others, and whispered into the older man’s ear.
Holland smiled and looked at Marina. “Looks like we got some trouble in cellblock C. Why don’t you go with my son here and see if you can sprinkle some of that vamp goodness on them.” It was said as a statement, not a request.
Marina sighed then nodded in agreement. She then left with Boyd.
“Earlier today she saved some poor sap’s life while kicking ass. She’s an impressive woman.” Holland’s eyes lingered on the spot were Marina just was.
Joel sat forward. “Six hours until sunup. I’m going to check out the view from the towers then get some sleep. If anything happens that shouldn’t, let me know.”
*****
Evan felt the pressure of the sun, even in his dream. He was sitting in the middle of a beautiful field, a bright blue sky above him, and he was on fire.
He awoke with a start then realized his hand was burning. A tiny spot of sunlight had managed to invade the cramped space at the top of the watchtower, and his hand was what stopped it. He quickly drew his fingers back and rubbed the dark red mark. He was sure when he was fully human the rays wouldn’t have done that to his skin.
Price you pay.
He figured it was about 8 a.m. The last thing he remembered after spending a few minutes with Joel, was sitting on the ground, pushing himself up against the wall near the top steps, and then nothing.
In front of him, his two companions, Johnny and Chet, slept.
“What?”
He scrambled to his feet. One of them should have been awake. Should had been keeping watch with the scope.
He quickly held it to his eye, took it away, rubbed it, then put it back and looked out across the lush green landscape. It was the first time he had seen the land around the prison looking anything other than deathly. And the canals could now be clearly—
He swung the enlarged view of the scope back to his left, back towards the town. There was movement there.
He walked across the small room, treading on a slim, bony man as he went, and leaned forward to be as close to the glass window as possible.
Dark forms skittered across the streets. As if the town of Westlands had suddenly become one giant ant farm full of determined little creatures.
“Fuck.”
The gaunt-looking man looked up, chewing something left over in his mouth. “Fuck? Why fuck?” He smiled as if he had just said something funny. “The legions of the dead are not attacking, are they?” He turned over and laid back down. “Tell them Johnny is taking today off, so they can’t.”
The ants were moving towards the road which led to the prison. Scuttling and spilling out over the muddy banks.
Out the corner of Evan’s eye he noticed more movement. He swept the view across to the south. To where the secret tunnels eventually emerged on the other side of the small hill and trees. More ants. Lots more emerging from over the distant tree-covered bumps in the landscape.
He went to move his scope once again when an alarm blasted into the fresh morning air.
Johnny and Chet both scrambled to their feet at the same time, the latter falling backwards against the desk.
“They’re coming!” shouted Evan to his two sleepy partners. “Get your shit ready!”
Johnny picked up his sniper’s rifle, cocked it, and placed it on a prearranged spot, so it was leaning on top of a computer monitor. The window in front of it was open just an inch, but enough for the rifle’s barrel to poke through. The other man did the same on the right side of the tower.
The siren continued. Outside, a few people ran from one of the other towers to the side doors of the cellblocks.
“I got movement on the west as well,” said Chet.
“How many?” said Evan.
Chet squinted into his scope. The land to the west was flatter, but had a series of farm buildings blocking a clear view. Vamps, though, still filled every available gap between them. “Five hundred, maybe a thousand, I’m not sure. But they’re moving this way.” He looked down to the six ammo boxes on the desk next to him. Shook his head then looked back through his scope.
Evan’s radio crackled making them all jump. He picked it up. “I’m here. Over.”
In cellblock E, which was the only block not full to breaking point of people, on the second floor, back corner, Joel open
ed his eyes, although it was his ears that were trying to inform his brain of what was happening.
The prison complex was alive with fear and urgency. The siren cycled around. A whooping noise which started low then quickly increased three octaves, piercing every wall and cell, leaving no one in any doubt that danger would soon be upon them.
He pushed his feet into his boots, quickly tying them, grabbed his jacket, radio, and M4, and rushed outside. As he did, he looked back at the small pane of glass which was the small room’s only view of the world outside. The gray had been replaced with blue.
Men and women ran past him on the balcony, some with weapons. He tried catching one of them. “Are they attacking?”
A slim young man looked his way before continuing forward. “They’re all around us!” he shouted back.
Joel ran along the walkway, putting his jacket on, holding his radio up to his mouth. “Anyone read me? Someone give me a SITREP? Over.”
He raced down the metal steps into the main hall then into the adjoining corridor, glancing into the other cellblocks as he passed their entrances. Each one was a scene of panic with people holding their children close to them while others pointed and argued about what to do next.
Carla’s voice came from his radio.
“Thousands of vamps are a few miles from us. Most to the east, south, and west. Where are you? Over.”
“Going to Tower B. Over.”
“I’ll meet you there. Over.”
Joel ran across the yard splashing through puddles while Carla emerged from another side entrance to the blocks.
“Are they still advancing?” said Joel.
“No, looks like they are holding their position.”
The siren stopped its incessant wailing.
“Finally,” said Carla.
They both jogged to the door at the base of Evan’s tower and raced up the stairs.
“We’re coming up,” shouted Joel halfway up.
When he emerged, both of the snipers were at their rifles looking out through the scopes.
Evan was jotting down lines and small scribbles on a notepad on the desk in front of him.
Carla immediately raised a pair of binoculars to her eyes and looked out through the window, but had to squint due to the sunlight bouncing off it.
Evan looked back at Joel. “I’ve been plotting their positions.”
Joel looked at the notepad, pointing to a top section of it. “That’s where the warehouses are, and the tunnel entrance.” He looked at the numbers scrawled next to the exes. “That’s a lot of digits…”
Evan handed the scope to Joel. “See for yourself.”
Joel looked out into the morning sun, and the rich green land which stretched across the Canadian and American border. A multitude of deep green-blue streaks lay scattered amongst the bogs and grass, their ripples catching the sunlight, but everywhere else was darkness. Masses of stained creatures, their clothes ripped and torn reflecting the outcomes of their lives, stood hardly moving, but all looking in the same direction towards the prison. Behind them, more fanged things were arriving.
He slowly swung the scope first left to the east. Puffs of smoke rose into the sky.
“I think they are setting fire to the buildings in the town,” said Evan.
“Yup…”
“They want us to know we can’t return,” said Chet.
“Yup.” Joel then moved it across to the south, trying to keep some mental note of how many he thought there were, and then to the west. He walked a few feet, ending up next to Chet.
“I have definitely not got enough ammo for all of that lot,” said the stout bearded man next to Joel.
“Just any that—”
“That make it over the wall, yeah, I heard ya last night.”
“When the attack starts, barricade the door downstairs and the stairwell,” said Joel.
“It’s good, boss, we got ourselves a hybrid!” said Johnny, taking a break from looking down his rifle’s scope and squeezing Evan’s shoulder.
The young man awkwardly smiled.
“They are about four miles out,” said Carla. “Once they attack, we’ll have about a few minutes before they make it to the outer fence.”
Holland’s voice came from the radios in the small room. Joel clicked his on. “What is it? Over.”
“We’re surrounded! And I’ve got word they are destroying my town!”
“There’s always another town, Chad. Right now, we have to make sure our defenses are secure. What’s the scene on the north side? Over.”
“The APCs are fine if that’s your concern. Beyond the wall, it’s the same as every other side, south, east, west, it’s all the same. Thousands of the scourge. Over.”
“And the project? Over.”
There was a slight pause.
“Art tells me he’ll get it done. Over.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Marina looked at her watch.
Thirty minutes until sundown. We’re ready. We can do this.
Despite the sentiment, she could feel her heart racing in her chest.
Since the morning, she had been flitting from one side of the prison to the other, inspecting the exits, the windows, and any other entry point into the corridors and blocks.
She had become Holland’s go-to ‘man’ and she wasn’t sure how comfortable she was that. Still, it kept her busy.
She was in the main hall of cellblock C. Around her, sat and stood men and women most armed with handguns and a few with semiautomatic rifles. She looked into their eyes. There was fear, but there was also determination. They hadn’t survived the scourge just to be taken out by an insane vamp with crazy plans to take over everything. That made no sense to anyone.
In the cells were the children, elderly, and infirm, together with a guard in case those outside the secure doors failed.
It was the same throughout all the cellblocks.
We can do this.
A hundred or so feet from her Joel looked at Art in the prison basement. Next to the older man was someone of even more advanced years, Albert.
The engineer briefly looked back at Art and Joel then focused on the panel in front of him. “Okay, Joe, fire it up.”
Around the other side of a hulking piece of equipment, a switch was heard to be clicked, and the generator shuddered, but then reverted to its motionless state.
Albert stood back up and sighed. “Well… shit.”
“I thought you had this, Albert?” said Art.
“Oh… my bad!” shouted Joe from somewhere in the shadows behind a wall of pipes and cables. “I’m trying again.”
The same clicking noise came from the back of the machine and it shuddered again, but this time it kept on trembling, making a regular chugging noise.
Albert smiled waving his clenched glove in the air. “We did it, babe!”
“You bet ya ass we did,” said Joe.
“Okay, here we go then.” Albert watched as the power output increased then threw the first switch on the metal box in front of him.
A bulb in the basement immediately burned bright then popped, but the others stayed lit.
Art smiled and shook Albert’s hand as Albert’s wife appeared, ducking under the chaos of wires. Art shook her hand as well.
“You probably got enough juice for two days or so then someone needs to take a trip to the store to get some more gasoline,” said Joe, wiping the sweat from just below her gray hair.
“I thought we had barrels of the stuff?” said Joel.
“We do, but the prison grid eats through electricity quicker than bacon through a duck. I would advise only using what electricity you need.”
Art held his radio to his mouth and walked a few steps away.
Joel did the same, finding Carla’s radio by switching frequencies. “Everything ready outside? Over.”
“We got the swat APCs fueled and ready to roll. Anything makes it over the walls we should be able to get to them. Over,” said Carla.<
br />
“You got any signals from the towers of movement towards us? Over.”
“Nothing so far… but, Joel? They haven’t stopped coming, they are spread out as far as the eye can see. Where you going to be when it’s dark? Over.”
“Tower A. It’s the closest to the town. Over.”
“Okay, stay safe. Over.”
Art walked to him. “Holland says everyone’s inside and in place. We can go into lockdown when we’re ready down here.”
Joel looked at Albert.
“Just tell me when, boss.”
Joel nodded and Albert pulled down a small lever next to the larger main one. The humans next to him couldn’t tell, but Joel could hear in the distance clunks and clangs as every automated door throughout the network of corridors and buildings closed and locked.
Joel looked at the old couple. “You’re probably as safe as anywhere down here, and we’ll probably need more of your expertise before this is over.”
They both nodded.
He looked at Art. “We better get back upstairs.”
In the workshops, the scientists heard the door lock, briefly looked at it, each other, then continued on with their work.
“Guess it’s starting then,” said Rachel. Her work table had turned into a mini lab with some machinery she had taken from the medical center floors above including a microscope. She focused the lenses and studied yet another slide of Joel’s blood.
Bill looked at the tablet. It now had more wires attached to it including a tiny finger bandage made from silver with wires protruding from the bandage.
He looked down at the laptop PC he had taken from the prison’s computer room and began running tests again. After a few moments, he looked up shaking his head. “We need another sample, Rachel.”
In Tower B, Evan, Chet, and Johnny looked out into the gloom. From a few miles out and beyond, the landscape had been transformed into a sea of flesh swaying in the wind. Despite how hard Evan tried he couldn’t see where the armies of the scourge ended. They flowed mercilessly to the horizon.