“Turn the lights on,” the General ordered when the room became dark.
The Regulators were spread throughout the room. Each of them looked tense. Each of them appeared ready. Despite what evil was headed our way, I knew they would stand strong. Their commitment was evident in their features and postures.
The sun had set.
Nothing happened for another hour.
Then the General stood up and cocked his head. He was listening for something.
“They’ll be here soon,” he announced. “Make yourselves ready.”
“What are they waiting for?” I asked.
The General regarded me before answering.
“They’re cleaning up the zombies that aren’t around the church away from the neighborhood. They don’t want the interference. When they’ve finished with that, they will come.”
If I listened hard enough, I could actually hear what he was talking about. In the distance, there were the sounds of battle. I didn’t pick them up before because I wasn’t too familiar with what the sounds of battle actually sounded like.
Eventually, the sounds became louder and closer. I could hear screams and wails in the night. Occasionally, I could even hear explosions. If I was frightened before, it was nothing compared to what I felt when I listened to the sounds of the vampires as they destroyed the zombies in the surrounding area.
Around four hours after sunset, the zombies outside the church stopped pounding on the walls. The vampires had arrived. Shortly after that, I could hear the sounds of bones breaking and skin tearing. I could hear the moans and screams of the zombies as they spotted what could only have appeared to them as an easy meal.
The crashing and thumping, the chaos outside our walls lasted only a brief moment and silence reigned supreme. I watched as everyone’s eyes darted back and forth between all the windows. None of us knew where the attack was going to come from. I watched Nick adjust his grip on his axe. I saw Dudley take deep centering breaths. I observed many of the survivors whisper quiet prayers.
The attack came from everywhere at once.
The vampires shattered the windows. The freezing air filled the room instantly. The front door reverberated with the sounds of impact. I could hear an unearthly laughter floating through the outside air. The very walls of the church began to throb beneath the violence being committed upon them. The noise was deafening. Some of the people in the sanctuary squeezed themselves lower under the barricaded pews. Some of the children began to cry. Someone else began to scream.
The General did nothing.
The man stood absolutely still in the center of the large room. He was waiting for something. I just didn’t know what. I also couldn’t understand how he could appear to be so calm. It was as if he expected everything that was happening to happen.
Everything came to an abrupt stop. It was silent once more.
“They can’t enter the church,” someone shouted.
“Why did they stop?” someone else asked.
The first vampire came crashing through one of the broken stained glass windows. He didn’t make it very far, and I finally learned what the contraptions above the windows were. The General had found a few engineers amongst the survivors and together they had constructed guillotines over all the windows.
As soon as the vampire came crashing through, he must have triggered the blade. I’m not sure what the blades were actually made from, but the church had been redesigned many times over the years and a lot of materials were stored down inside the basement.
The blade had sliced into the vampire’s neck. It didn’t sever the head, but it must have caused the creature an immense amount of pain. The way in which it screeched and wailed was completely awful. The black blood that was spurting from its neck and mouth almost reached the ceiling.
Everyone began to panic.
But not the General.
He finally began to move and when he did, I was shocked at his speed. He crossed the room instantly and the tomahawk twirled in his hand. He brought the black blade crashing down upon the creature’s neck. The creature wailed even louder. It thrashed even more fiercely. The General never paused, not even for a moment. He struck the vampire again and again, until finally, the head rolled from the shoulders.
The General picked up the head and held it out for all to see.
“They can be killed!” he shouted. “They can be killed. All you need to do is stay strong. All you need to do is fight.”
Everyone began to cheer. Everyone began to thump their weapons against the floor. I even joined in myself. All the problems that I had with the man were instantly forgotten. We all had the same goal. To help one another survive the night.
The next attack came at the front door. I watched as pieces of heavy wood flew across the room. I watched as the large spiked block came pivoting down upon the vampire, instantly impaling the creature through the chest. I watched the creature struggle against the wooden spikes. I watched its movements begin to slow, and I watched it cease moving all together.
“Take its head off!” the General shouted. “And board up that door.”
Nick began to hack at the creature’s neck while others set the front door back onto its thick hinges. The youngest brought hammers and nails. Others brought wooden braces. Soon, the doorway was strong once again.
The assault picked up with an even greater fury. The vampires outside the room began to tear at the very walls of the church. They began to throw rocks through the windows. The General paced up and down the main aisle telling everyone to be patient, telling everybody to wait until they were inside.
I personally did not want to wait for the vampires to enter the church, but I could see the logic. Inside the sanctuary we were strong. Inside, we had numbers on our side. The third vampire burst through the window with the already triggered guillotine.
The dark shape punched right through the flimsy metal of the makeshift blade and tumbled amongst us. In a flash, the General was after her, but the damage was already being done. The people froze as she charged through the barricade of pews and slashed out with her clawed hands.
It was horrible to see what the vampires were actually capable of. The devastation she caused was astounding. I watched as she ripped through clothing and flesh with ease. I saw the red blood of my fellow man splash the walls.
The General was upon her just as soon as her attack began. The tomahawk slashed through the air and cleaved off a piece of her skull. The vampire screamed in pain and anger. The black drool frothed at her mouth and she swatted the man away as if he were an annoying insect and continued her attack upon the innocent people.
I became enraged.
Without thought I ran towards the vampire. I was determined that she would bring no further death to the people under my protection. I pulled the starter cord as I ran forward to meet her. I could barely hear the motor of the chainsaw as the instrument came to life in my hands, but I could feel the vibration. I also felt my strength returning to my arms and legs.
It was the same strength that had saved me on my very first encounter with the zombies. I slashed the chainsaw at her neck when I was close enough. The whirling blade ripped open her throat and the vampire gurgled and tried to staunch the flow of blood.
The General was upon her back and hacking at her neck with a black knife. The damage I had caused on her neck increased with his slashes and I was covered in her vile, black blood. Still, she easily threw the General away from her once again. I felt the blood chill in my bones as she cast her dead eyes upon me.
The people attacked.
They came at her in a great mob. I watched her disappear beneath their violent hands and crude weapons. I saw Nick run forth and swing his axe down upon her head with a sickening crunch. I watched the mob undulate as she struggled beneath them. I heard her screams. I heard her curses. I saw people fly through the air as she swatted them away from her.
But as soon as she got away, they pulled her back down. They were u
pon her. They were stabbing at her. They were causing her pain. The black blood was everywhere. I understood how dangerous the creature was. I understood how much damage they were capable of withstanding.
“That’s why the General set the traps that he did isn’t it? He wanted to trap them, to immobilize them in order to kill them easier.”
I would assume so. I never actually got the chance to ask the man, but I can attest that a trapped vampire is a lot easier to destroy than an unencumbered one.
Still, the violent mob brought the vampire down. It took some time, of course, and lives were lost. But the vampire fell. She fell and I charged forth once again with my chainsaw and removed her head. It wasn’t a difficult cut by the time I got another chance to attack. The mob had seen to that. When all was finished, she was barely even recognizable as a human shaped figure.
When my breathing had finally calmed down enough to hear other sounds above it, I became aware of Dudley and Javie firing their silenced rifles outside the window in an effort to prevent more vampires from entering the sanctuary. The dog was tearing at a grey hand the grasped at the windowsill despite the machine gun fire. It wasn’t until Dudley swung his machete that the hand disappeared.
We were withstanding them so far. We were still in our castle, so to speak. The battle had not yet been lost, but I knew that we wouldn’t last the night. The vampires were unstoppable. I remember looking towards the General and watching as he surveyed the damage. His face gave away nothing. It was just as cold as it had been when I first met him, but for just a brief moment I saw his great shoulders sag. I saw the way he slowly bent and retrieved his tomahawk off the debris covered floor. I saw this and understood.
He expected us to lose.
He knew the strengths of our enemy, and he knew that the chances of us lasting through the night were very slim. He knew that it was just a matter of time before each and every one of us fell beneath the terrible claws and snapping fangs.
He knew all this and still he stayed.
It was all over in a moment mind you. I was the only one watching him at the time. I doubt anyone else saw what I saw, much less understood what I did. Still, I wondered about him. I wondered about a man willing to stand with a group that was surely doomed. I even felt just a little inspired by him.
Everything was quiet outside.
The cold night air was penetrating my clothing, and I realized that the only way to keep warm was to keep myself moving. It was uncommonly cold outside, but judging from the grey skies earlier, a cold front wasn’t really surprising.
I aided the injured and gave prayers to those we had lost. It was hard to keep my spirits up. I had never actually seen battle wounded people. It was hard to not simply sit down and give up. I did what I could. I even stitched up deep cuts across one child’s back as he proudly announced that he wanted to be a Regulator when he grew up.
Finally, when our wounded had been tended to and our dead had been gathered up, I began to hear the moans of the zombies once again coming from outside the church. I wasn’t terribly alarmed because I knew that they could never breech our walls, but the Regulators had all gathered at one window and were talking excitedly.
“I’m not exactly sure what I saw,” Dudley said.
“Tell me one more time anyway,” the General said.
“It looked like the vampires were carrying something,” Dudley said. “That’s all I know. They were moving pretty fast.”
“How many of them did you see?”
“Four or five.”
“Where were they going?”
“They were going to both sides of the church,” Dudley said. “What do you think is going on?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” the General said.
“The moans,” I announced and all of them looked at me. “Have you noticed that we can hear the zombies again?”
All of them tilted their heads and cocked their ears until they also began to hear the anguished moans coming from outside the walls. Then, I watched as each of them looked questioningly to their neighbor.
“I have no idea,” the General said.
“Do you think they gave up?” Georgie asked.
“No,” Dudley said. “I saw them carrying something.”
“Could they have been carrying zombies?” the General asked.
“Why would they be carrying zombies?” Dudley asked.
“I’m not…”
The General wasn’t given the opportunity to finish. The first zombie crashed through the window on the opposite side of the church and rolled right next to a young woman. She shrieked in alarm and tried to scramble away from the monster, but it was too late. The zombie had attached itself to her leg and began to tear off huge chunks of muscle right through her jeans.
I rushed over to help her. I bounded over the demolished pews scattered across the room as I pulled the starter cord on my chainsaw. I revved the motor and I struck out immediately when I was in range. The zombie was destroyed, but once the motor was cut off on my chainsaw I began to hear the sounds of breaking glass. I even began to hear the diabolical ‘snick’ sound as the guillotine blades dropped on bodies.
I turned and I saw pieces of zombies before three of the broken windows. I saw that the guillotines had been triggered. Then, I saw the flimsy blades break apart and fall to the floor as more zombies were thrown into the church.
“So the vampires were using zombies to set off the traps?”
Not just to set off the traps. They were using the zombies to attack us as well. Once a guillotine had been triggered, they broke it apart and began throwing zombies through the broken windows.
Glass began to break on both sides of the church. We were under attack from seemingly everywhere. I can’t really say how the others fared during these moments. I lost myself in the heat of battle. I think that’s probably the way it is sometimes. I was so concerned with killing the zombies that were rampaging inside my church that I don’t really know what was happening around me.
Should I have paid attention to everyone else? Could I have saved lives if I had abandoned my weapon and tried to provide aid? I just don’t know. I believe that I did what I could. I believe that my actions which were strictly offensive must have saved lives, but I will never be sure.
I was everywhere and nowhere. I heard a zombie scream and ran towards its source. I struck them down one by one. I heard screams all around me, both zombie and human. I felt the bitter chill in the air. I slashed and I cut. I made a path through the dead. Not a single one of them got by me. Not a single one of them escaped my attention.
Surely, others were also fighting. Every now and then I could hear orders being given, and I could hear the sounds of metal colliding with flesh and bone. The church was a warzone. Our enemy was fearless and so was I.
I had long since given up on fearing the zombies. They did not chill my blood even slightly. I had faced them many times and every single time I came away triumphant. We were finally having a fight that I could understand.
I was in the thick of things from the very beginning. I didn’t mind at all. I was glad to finally have an enemy that I could destroy by myself. Or maybe that isn’t completely accurate. I would like to amend my last statement. I was glad to finally have an enemy that could be defeated.
I don’t know when the vampires began to enter the church.
I shouldn’t have been surprised that they did. The zombies triggered our traps and even cut down our numbers slightly. The way inside was wide open and had no defenders. The vampires simply walked inside.
The only reason I noticed them was because I was soon fighting them. I went from zombie to zombie to zombie to…vampire. I didn’t even have time to be afraid. The monster was simply before me. His bottom jaw had grown to enormous proportions. His savage teeth snapped at my face. His cold hands grabbed a hold of me. He easily swatted my chainsaw aside. I heard it clatter to the floor. As soon as the little motor died, I heard the screams all around m
e.
This time, the screams were only human.
The grip of the vampire was very similar to being caught in a vice. I could not escape as his horrific teeth came closer and closer to my neck. I struggled of course. I struggled for all I was worth. I couldn’t get away. The General’s dog came to help me. She ripped and tore at the vampire’s leg, but it was to no avail. I was going to die and when that became apparent, I averted my gaze. I didn’t want to see the lifeless eyes.
People were running in all directions. Not all of them were running away mind you. Most of them were actually trying to fight. It saddened me that after all we had gone through, there would be no light at the end of the tunnel.
I had failed.
I felt the teeth begin to press into my neck.
“STOP!”
The voice…I didn’t know where it had come from, but it penetrated every nook and corner of the sanctuary. It was a compelling voice. I wanted to listen. I felt the teeth pull away from my neck. I was released from the vise-like grip. I became aware of my surroundings and noticed that the entire sanctuary was still and quiet.
The vampires were withdrawing.
I watched the beast that almost ended my life join his own kind and walk through the shattered front door of the church back out into the cold night air.
I could hear the labored breaths of hundreds.
Nobody moved. We simply stood in our places and watched the broken front door. I assumed that we were about to face yet another horror intent on ending our lives. I was wrong. The voice came again.
“Guardian,” it called. “Guardian, come outside and meet with me.”
“Go fuck yourself!” the General shouted in response.
“Guardian, I can’t tell you how pleased I was to find you here. I thought for sure that you had left the city. In turn, I was going to massacre all those you left behind, but imagine my surprise to find you waiting for me at the very first place we came to.”
I watched as the General came forth from the crowd of people. He was covered in gore. Obviously, he had been fighting, and, as the gore was not his, I’d say that he had been fighting well. His team followed closely behind him. They were also gore spattered.
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