Blood Cell

by Shaun Tennant

  Content with his plan, Ox leaned his face into the corpse of his best friend, and started to eat.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  In the darkness of the classroom, it was impossible to know where Leo was hiding.

  Santos had put up a good fight, but it ended quickly when Leo tossed him halfway across the room. Now he was trapped in the darkness. It was only fifteen feet to the door. Fifteen feet to that portal of light. But Leo was hiding, and waiting for Santos to make a move.

  Santos couldn’t see a thing in this gloom, but he assumed that Leo’s eyes were better in the dark, now. Now that he’s a vampire. Fuck, that was weird to think.

  Santos felt along the floor with his hands. He knew the stake was in here somewhere, but he couldn’t see it. He didn’t want to crawl around out of fear of bumping the furniture and attracting Leo. So he felt the floor, carefully, and inched along. All of his senses were at their maximum, listening for the slightest movement, feeling for a change in air pressure.

  Where the fuck is Leo?

  Santos’s hand found a desk. He crawled around it, slowly, but trying not to drag against the floor. He began to crawl along the next row of seats. Farther from the door. Farther into the dark.

  He traced his fingertips along the dirty, sandy floor. He found the round metal legs chairs and the square legs of desks, but never found the weapon. He had to move father still. Ducking under a desk, he moved past the first row of seats and into the front of the classroom. He felt for the far wall, to give him some guidance. He found the smooth-painted cinderblocks and resumed his search.

  Santos stopped often, looking to the doorway and the darkness, trying to force his eyes to see in the black. He couldn’t. There was no sign of Leo, although Santos knew for sure that he was still in the room.

  In the front corner of the room, the doorway was merely a slit of light along the wall. It seemed very far away. As Santos neared this corner, his right hand brushed against something hard. The object was wood, and round. He closed his fingers around the stake. As he did so, the side of his hand rubbed against cold skin.

  There was another man’s hand on the stake. A cold, dead hand. “Looking for something?” Leo hissed, his breath cold. The words came from mere inches in front of Santos’s face, where Leo was crouched, waiting for him.

  Santos shouted in shock and lunged forward, the top of his skull slamming into Leo’s face. He felt his old rival’s hand loosen on the stake, and jerked it away. Instinctively, Santos swung the stake side-to-side, like a switchblade in a knife fight. Swiping for a slash, not a plunge into the chest. His swing whipped through the air but never found Leo.

  Santos stood, and started to rush back to the doorway. Feeling along the desks with his left hand, he backpeddled until he found the space where the row of desks ended. He rushed through the middle of the classroom, flailing with the stake as he went.

  At the back of the class, only steps from the doorway, Santos felt the stake strike fabric, then flesh, then felt the victim jump back and away. He threw himself toward the figure he had wounded, throwing a haymaker with the same hand that held the stake.

  He missed, mostly. The butt-end of the stake jutting out from the bottom of his hand glanced off the side of Leo’s skull, bringing a yelp from the loathsome. That was all Santos needed, opening up enough time for him to dart out into the light once again. Turning back to the darkened rectangle of the classroom door, Santos raised his stake.

  “Come on out, motherfucker. Let’s see how you do when I can see you.” He kept the stake cocked, standing about five feet from the doorway. There was only one way out for Leo, and Santos was in control of it now. “Well? Don’t tell me you’re afraid of the light. You’re a bigger bitch in the afterlife than where you were alive. Is it some kinda personal hell? They make you live through eternity as a scar-faced little pussy?”

  Santos heard Leo’s footsteps running, before Leo launched himself out of the darkness, headlong, arms extended, pouncing at Santos like a guard dog. He hit Santos hard in the sternum with a shoulder, and tackled him hard to the floor. Leo pinned Santos’s hips with his legs, then rose up enough to start throwing punches.

  Baring his teeth, Leo hissed in rage as he unloaded inhumanly strong punches down at Santos. With his arms guarding his face, Santos left his body exposed. He felt his ribs crack. With a wild scream, Santos swung the stake up sideways, stabbing the wood two inches deep into the side of Leo’s neck. Leo snarled like an angry tiger, and swung a backhand slap into Santos’s face, and they both rolled with the punch. Leo collapsed off Santos, who held strong onto the stake, pulling it free from his enemy’s neck. Santos rolled over, cocking the stake for another swing, but Leo was already on his feet, clutching his bloody neck with both hands, and running for the stairs.

  *****

  Norris held one of Sally’s hands between both of his own. He kept shaking as he held her, squeezing hard enough that she was almost in pain.

  “I found her, thank you, I found her,” he kept repeating. Sally didn’t know what to say to him.

  They were still huddled in the corner of the secure corridor, at the entrance to the mess hall. Thomas Turner’s body lay a few paces down the hallway. Carlos looked at him.

  “He really broke those doors down?”

  “Saw it myself,” said Williams. “Damnedest thing. Well, maybe not quite.”

  “About ad seg,” Josh said to Sally. “Glad you’re not dead.”

  “Thanks. Guess I didn’t need the keys,” she said, sheepishly.

  “Are we good?” he asked.

  Sally nodded to Josh, and gave him a smile that was weak and half-hearted, but genuine. She had dimples. Norris shot Josh an angry look, and squeezed Sally’s hand harder.

  “We should hustle,” said Norris.

  Williams looked at the Josh and Carlos, the inmates. “The stairs to the balcony are just inside-“

  “We know,” Josh interrupted. “I’m the one who left the door open.” He couldn’t help but look at Sally as he thought of the guard station where they met.

  “OK. Good.” Williams squeezed his broom-handle stake. “Everyone armed?”

  Josh still had the small plastic cross, and the stake made from a pew. Carlos had his large wooden cross (which he could somehow hold despite his completely useless right arm), and Norris had his stake.

  Norris looked at Josh. “Give your cross to Sally.”

  “Hold on,” said Sally. She pulled her hand free from Norris, and jogged over to Thomas’s body. She traced her finger along his waistband, and found a stake tucked in the back of his pants. “Thanks, Tom.”

  She returned to the group, and Norris immediately grabbed her hand again. Norris stared at them for a moment, gathering his thoughts. The look on his face was deadly serious. “OK. This is how it’ll work. Me and Sally up front where I can see everything and keep an eye on her.” He looked to Williams, “you and smartass take the rear, and we’ll keep the gimp in the middle. If he can keep up.”

  “Hey, fuck you, ese.” Carlos spat back. “I can handle myself.”

  “Whatever.” Norris turned his back, and started to lead them out into the mess hall. Despite his objection, Carlos followed him, followed by Williams and Josh.

  As Carlos stepped through the doors, Norris stopped. “Wait,” he said, holding up an open hand. Everyone else froze.

  “What?” Carlos whispered.

  Norris turned to face him. “Trade me your cross for my stake.”

  Carlos handed over the heavy cross. Norris reached out with the stake, and with a flicker of a glance toward Josh, he stabbed the sharp end of the stake into Carlos’s shoulder, tearing at the bullet hole. Before anyone could process what he was doing, Norris kicked Carlos back at Josh, and slammed the mess hall’s left door shut. Moving to the other door, Norris had to stop as Williams jumped out at him, screaming “What the hell?”

  Norris clubbed Williams in the head with the heavy cross, knocking him back into the corr
idor, and slammed the second door closed. With the double-doors shut, Norris flicked the locks, sealing Carlos, Josh, and Williams in the corridor.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Sally screamed. Norris jammed the wooden cross into the handles of the double-doors, creating a deadbolt, then he turned back, and punched Sally hard in the stomach, winding her. She doubled over in pain, and her boyfriend punched her hard in the back of the head, collapsing her to her knees.

  “I found you,” Norris said, smiling.

  “My master will be pleased.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Carlos was screaming, and using his good arm to press down on the ragged wound. Williams slumped against the wall, barely standing and holding his head. Josh tended to Carlos.

  “Get your hand away. I gotta see it.”

  Josh pulled apart the torn fabric of Carlos’s shirt. Norris had stabbed at Carlos’s wound, but the gauze protected it. He did put a deep gash to the left of the gauze, for about three inches across the centre of Carlos’s chest. He was bleeding profusely from the jagged, ugly wound.

  Behind the locked double-doors, Sally screamed. Josh pulled away from Carlos and pressed his ear to the door.

  “Your master?” she screamed.

  “He’s waiting for you,” replied Norris. The steel door was thick and heavy, but Norris spoke boastfully, loud enough to be heard. “Once I deliver you to him, he shall give me his strength.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Josh whispered under his breath.

  “What the fuck is he saying?” Asked Carlos. Josh shushed him.

  “You’ll make a lovely dessert, my dear. The master will have to reward me then.” Sally said something that was muffled by the doors, and the conversation faded, either due to distance or quieting voices.

  Josh looked to Carlos and Williams, wide-eyed with disbelief. “He’s a fucking Renfield.”

  “A what?” Williams asked, still rubbing his head.

  “Norris. A Renfield. A familiar. He’s gonna hand over Sally to that thing out there and hope he gets turned into a vampire.”

  Josh returned to Carlos. Gently pulling the makeshift sling off Carlos’ shoulder, he started to sop up the blood. “Guess that explains why he was weird when we found her,” said Carlos. Carlos was obviously trying to play tough and keep up the conversation like nothing was wrong, but every time Josh touched his wounds, Carlos’ fists squeezed tighter and shook with the pain.

  “Actually,” said Williams, “I think they were doin’ it.”

  “Wow, powers of deduction like that and they didn’t let you into detective school,” Said Josh, trying to play it light for Carlos’s sake.

  “So we going to save your girl?” Asked Carlos. “Again?”

  “The only way out there now would be back through ad seg,” said Williams.

  “Again?” Carlos chuckled, but that only stretched his wounds and made him wince. “Getting real tired of all the running around in here.”

  “Well maybe if you didn’t give Norris the keys we’d be able to take the short way,” Josh said, as he finished wrapping gauze around Carlos’s chest.

  “So we go back the other way, and run into the same damn army of vampires that chased us back here. Then what?”

  “I’m sorry,” asked Williams, “what do you mean ‘army of vampires?’”

  “Turns out our friend with the fangs was contagious. Everyone he bit got up and started walking around about fifteen minutes ago,” said Josh.

  “Then we definitely gotta get out of here,” said Williams. “The sun’ll be up soon. When that happens, this hallway’s the darkest place in the whole pod. They’ll be coming here whether we’re present or not. I suggest not.”

  “Right now they’re locked out on the other side of ad seg, and they can’t do the floating-on-fog thing that Big Daddy can do,” Josh said, thinking it through. “...But Norris is about to hand over the keys and then we’re right fucked.”

  “Better get moving,” said Williams.

  “Easy for you to say,” grunted Carlos, struggling to his feet.

  “You religious?” asked Josh.

  “Catholic,” said Carlos with a shrug.

  “Then take this,” Josh told him, holding out the plastic cross. “And don’t get pissy when I say you’re walking in the middle of the group.”

  They walked back down the long, damp hallway in single file, and without incident. As they opened the entrance to solitary once again, the silence of the corridor gave way to the sound of an angry mob. On the other side of the solitary wing, the gang of newborn vampires was still lined up at the bars, screaming and growling and aching for some food.

  “Jesus,” said Williams. “There’s a lot of them.”

  “I’m no math whiz,” said Carlos, “But I figure about thirty died in the riot. The rest died since.”

  “So there might be ninety vampires on the other side of this gate? Wonderful.”

  “On the plus side,” said Josh, “they’re easy to kill. The stake goes through ‘em like butter.”

  “Oh,” said Williams, “how many have you killed?”

  Josh scratched at the stubble on his chin. “Just the one.”

  “Because that one back there—Big Daddy you called him—was a strong bastard. And if that part’s contagious too--”

  “The other one must be a lot older or something. These guys can’t turn into clouds or bats or anything. The bars can keep them back. I think they might be weak since they’re so new.”

  The three men walked out in front of the bars, where the vampires could see them. The crowd cheered like a concert audience seeing the headliners walk on stage.

  “...mmmeat...” hissed one.

  “Blood,” said another. A dozen of them, the front row, reached through the bars with one or both hands, scratching at the air between them and the humans. Josh watched them sticking their arms through the gate, and came up with an idea.

  “Can you open these doors from in here? Without the keys?”

  “The desk has manual controls, should work on back-up power but I haven’t that” said Williams.

  “OK. Get over there.”

  “What are you going to do?” asked both Carlos and Williams together.

  Josh ran the pad of his thumb over the point of his stake. “I have a plan. But I need that cross back.”

  Carlos handed him the cross. Williams went behind the guard desk and sat down. After a thought, he tossed his stake to Carlos, who managed to catch it in his good hand. Josh looked to Williams, then to Carlos. “You open it when I say, exactly. And you get my back in case this doesn’t work.” Both men nodded.

  “Open the first gate.”

  Williams pulled a switch, and the inside gate clicked free of its lock. Josh slid it to the side. The vampires got louder. Josh raised the cross and stepped into the antechamber between the gates. He took a step toward the beasts. They jammed their arms through the bars, swiping at him. He deflected the nearest hand with the cross, and the vampire’s skin made an audible hiss and spat out smoke as it burned from the contact.

  There were a dozen vampires jammed up against the bars, each forcing one or both hands toward Josh.

  “Unlock the second gate.”

  “Are you crazy?” called Williams.

  “Do it, said Josh, using the cross the push aside the vampires’ arms and step even closer to the bars.

  The lock clicked open. As soon as he heard the sound, Josh lunged into the sweeping arms, and grabbed the bars of the gate. As quickly and powerfully as he could, Josh forced the gate to slide open. The arms got caught between the bars of the sliding door and the stationary bars that were secured to the floor and ceiling. Just as Josh had planned, the door trapped five vampires as it jammed to a stop. He forced his foot between the bars to keep the door open, and set out on the offensive. He jammed the cross into the forehead of the closest vampire, and the man screamed in agony. His face burned and blistered, then went up in flame. The fire spread almost in
stantly over his shoulders and chest, and then vampire collapsed in a pile of ash that spread over his neighbours, shocking them while also covering them in grey ash.

  Josh moved on to the next closest vampire, and held the cross against his chest. It howled and flailed, but couldn’t use its arms to stop Josh. In about three seconds, it was up in flames.

  Josh didn’t want to have to move because he feared losing his grip on the cage door. So he reached, extending himself, to hold the cross against another vampire’s arm. The arm started to burn, and fell off, but as it did so the vampire pulled away, and survived.

  One of the other vampires broke through the crowd and rushed at Josh. He instinctively jammed the stake between the bars, and let the vampire run right into it, impaling himself. He exploded in ash, but his momentum carried that ash right into Josh’s face, blinding him. He lost his grip on the door. It first slid closed, allowing the last trapped vampires to free themselves, then started to slide open again as the vampire mob saw an opportunity.

  “Get outta there!” shouted Carlos. Josh was still trying to see, but he knew enough to jump backward, out of the entranceway. Te vampires threw the first gate open and pushed through the opening in a huge mass, only ten feet from Josh.

  “Lock it down!” Carlos screamed at Williams. He threw the switch, and the inner door started to slide shut. Carlos ran to the door and forced it on its way. A vampire, who used to be on Carlos’s shift at the phone company, squeezed through before the gate shut. The rest of the crowd was held back by the gate.

  The vampire jumped on Josh and tackled him. Carlos raised his stake and rushed toward the creature. As he did, the vampire looked up, ready for him, nostrils flaring. It stared at Carlos’s bloody bandages.

  “Blood...” it hissed, and jumped off Josh to attack Carlos. Carlos swung the stake, but hit the vampire on the shoulder. It slapped the stake away, and leaned in toward Carlos’s neck. Williams jumped on the vampire’s back, putting it into a bear hug to try and lift it away from Carlos.