by Derek Gunn
Harris remained silent for some time as he stared out over the city. Finally he stood and looked down at Steele and offered his hand. “But what’s to stop it all happening again?”
“People like us,” Steele grinned as he gripped Harris’ss hand and pulled himself to his feet. All around them men and women took their cue from the two men and finished conversations and wiped damp palms on their clothes.
It was time.
“Now let’s get this show on the road.” Steele smiled. “There are a lot of people in there that are waiting for us.”
****
The thralls put up a token resistance at first but they were already beaten. When the vampires had not returned the night before, they knew. When their colleagues and superior officers had not returned, they knew. And when they saw the mass of people flooding towards them, they knew.
What the untrained rabble lacked in experience they more than made up for in enthusiasm. They had all suffered under the thralls for many years and, though the serum’s effects did not allow them to remember all the details of their captivity, each and every one of them had nightmares, snatches of memories of abuse and violence that no-one should have to endure.
They were angry as they flooded into the city and their anger carried them through the hail of bullets. The thralls still outnumbered the rebels but they were already beaten and many of them threw down their weapons in the hope that they would be spared the full brunt of the mob’s anger. That was not to be the case though.
Fear and disgust and anger drove them on and many thralls were killed or beaten senseless as people let their fury take over. It didn’t take long. Harris had not wanted to let the mob rule but Steele had advised him to stay out of it. The people needed to exorcise their demons. They needed to give their fear and anger a face. Something they could fight back against. Something they could all feel that they had overcome.
By the time the dawn once again began to spread out across the city it was over. Light splashed over all of them as if cleansing them from their night of violence and retribution. Even the city seemed to shine in the dawn as if a great weight had been lifted. There were casualties, of course, but mercifully few. Harris had ensured that some of the thralls had survived also; they had so much they needed to know and these pathetic, terrified creatures were only too willing to tell them everything.
They had a long way to go. There were thousands in the city still prisoners of the serum. Thousands of people who would need care and attention long after the effects finally wore off before they could join the resistance. They had scored a major victory here but it was only one city in a state full of cities and one state in a country full of states. They would have to hide their victory from the other cities and the other vampires or they would be swept away before they were ready. They had to remain hidden as they prepared. They would have to be cunning but most of all they would have to become a community. They had begun a journey but where it would lead Harris didn’t know. He was sure, though, that it was a journey worth taking
The End