Abomination

by Sean Stone

  “Uh… Are you okay?” Roman asked.

  “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” Eloise asked with a bemused look.

  “You just stuttered.”

  “Don’t be so ridiculous,” she snapped.

  “It’s been a long day,” Bradley said, in a feeble explanation to Roman.

  “True. After tonight we should all be able to get some sleep,” Roman said. “I’ll show you the panel.” Bradley doubted he’d be sleeping no matter what happened tonight.

  Eloise stepped up to the panel and Bradley followed. Nobody seemed bothered by him so he watched the orientation Roman gave Eloise.

  “Each button is numbered according to the explosion zones,” he said, pointing at thirty numbered blue buttons. “I’ll lead my team to each zone and once you’ve detonated the explosives we’ll move in and make sure nothing survived. I’ve numbered the zones according to the order you planned to detonate.”

  “Very good,” Eloise said.

  “This building has been fitted with a timer. Once you press this button,” he pointed at a green button that had been placed far away from the blue ones. “You’ll have six minutes to get out of the area. This one is in case of an incursion.” He pointed at a humungous red button that sat at the top of the panel. No other buttons were near it.

  “Incursion?” Bradley asked. Both faces turned to him.

  “In case their lot manage to get in here,” Eloise explained.

  “It will trigger the explosives immediately,” said Roman.

  “So there’ll be no time to get out?” asked Bradley.

  “No,” Roman said simply. “Pay attention to this light here.” He pointed at a solid green light above the buttons. “Whilst it’s green it means this base is connected to the other explosives. If it goes red the connection is lost and you won’t be able to trigger the explosions other than here in this building. It should stay connected but if it does go red for any reason, just flip this switch,” he pointed a black switch next to the light. “And it will turn it off. Flip it again to turn it back on. If that doesn’t fix it get one of the techs to have a look.”

  Bradley turned away from the buttons and focused on the screens. One of the screens showed the street outside and Bradley smiled when he saw one of the soldiers negligently eating a chocolate bar and not paying attention to what was going on around him. Bradley almost jumped when the same soldier suddenly vanished. At first he thought the soldier had somehow teleported, then he saw the foot sticking out of a nearby bush. He guessed that Arthur had sent the cavalry. He placed his hand over the mirror in silent thanks and felt his heart beating rapidly beneath.

  “I’ll get going,” Roman said.

  “One more thing,” Eloise said. She stopped, a torn look on her face. “Years ago, Jonathan was having experiments done on these creatures. He developed a serum. I didn’t want to give it to you because I don’t like to use anything to do with them, but… Well, tonight we can expect the most resistance.” She picked up her bag and began rummaging around inside it. She pulled out a small black case which she opened and from it withdrew a bag of red tablets. It contained at least a hundred. “They last about an hour. They increase your reflexes and your strength.”

  “You’ve been holding out on me.” Roman said, taking the bag from Eloise.

  “They were made from something the scientists extracted from vampires. I wouldn’t usually condone their use, but I thought… thought… thought… thought… thought that one day they might be useful and we can take no risks tonight.”

  Bradley watched Roman swallow one of the pills before handing the bag to the nearest soldier, and he hoped that somebody was still listening in on the conversation. Eloise now had super soldiers in her army.

  “Let’s go!” Roman called and the majority of the soldiers filed out after him. Only four remained to guard the inside of the church. Each of them was given one of the pills.

  Roman stepped out into the cool night, ready for a fight. As he reached the bottom step of the church and looked around he noticed that none of the soldiers guarding the exterior were there. The street was deserted.

  “Arms up!” he hissed at his soldiers. Fifty rifles flew up ready to fire. Roman whistled and the trucks around him flew open and more soldiers came out to join them. It was a shame they weren’t enough of those tablets for everyone. That was fine, Roman had had one and that was all that mattered. He already felt like his arms were made of concrete. “Show yourself!” he shouted.

  A single man appeared in the middle of the road. Just a silhouette in the night. He began walking towards them. Several torches flicked on and illuminated him. The sight of the soldiers did not perturb this man in the last. He was a tallish man with curly dark hair and as he drew closer Roman saw that he had bright red eyes.

  “Vampire,” Roman muttered under his breath. He didn’t bother raising his rifle. He had enough minions for that.

  “My name is Richie Morgan and tonight I’m clearing you out of my town,” the vampire said arrogantly.

  “Brother, after tonight you won’t have a town.” Roman was about to give the order to shoot him when he saw that Richie was not alone. Out of the surrounding buildings came more vampires. More and more filed out into the street. First a few, then tens, then hundreds. Vampire after vampire piled into the street until a mass of red eyed freaks stood before them. Three-hundred vampires to one-hundred soldiers. Richie stared daringly at Roman. Waiting for him to make the first move.

  “Well?” Roman shouted at the vampires. “What are you waiting for? Come on! Let’s be having you!”

  Chapter 38

  Richie didn’t need to give the command; Roman’s words were all the invitation his vampires needed to attack. Before Richie could move himself he was surrounded by vampires running at their prey. The street was filled with he sounds of gun shots and screams. It irked Richie to see his own falling down dead. The venom-laced wooden bullets worked as fast as normal bullets did on a human. The soldiers could not shoot faster than the vampires ran, though. After the first line of vampires fell the rest found the soldiers and all Richie could see was a mess of fighting. He worked his way through it all, looking for the one who was obviously in charge. Richie wanted to kill him first, then Eloise. Soldiers attacked him as he searched and he killed them all with little effort. A bullet flew past, narrowly missing his cheek. He saw the soldier who’d fired it. The next second the soldier lay dead in a puddle of his own piss. These soldiers might have been given the weapons they needed to fight vampires, but they hadn’t been given the mental training. Richie could smell the terror rising off them.

  He found the one he was looking for. The leader. He was firing bullets into an already dead vampire. There was no fear on this one. Richie could’ve snapped the man’s neck before he even looked round, but then he thought of Victor and how his old friend would disapprove. Killing a man from behind was cowardly and dishonourable.

  “Hey!” Richie shouted, eyeballing the man. The burly soldier turned to look at him and he actually smiled.

  “Are you going to give me a real fight?” the soldier asked. He planted his feet evenly on the ground and then to Richie’s surprise he threw aside his rifle.

  “I’d pick that back up if I were you,” Richie suggested.

  “Nah,” the soldier shook his head. “Out of bullets.” He drew from his belt a pistol and raised it so it pointed at Richie’s face. Richie wasn’t afraid. The bullet would not return him to the state Ramsay had put him in, it would simply take his life and that didn’t frighten Richie. It annoyed him, though, after all, there were people he needed to kill.

  “What’s your name?” Richie asked.

  “What’s it to you?”

  “I’d like to know who I’m about to kill?”

  The soldier laughed. “Look around you, Richie. Go on, I won’t shoot while you look.”

  Richie believed him. This man wanted a fight and he wasn’t going to deprive himself of one by shooting Ri
chie while he was distracted. Richie looked around and what he saw disheartened him. His vampires had been winning just moments ago, but now the humans had turned the tables. Reinforcements had arrived. Soldiers were on the roof of the church and the surrounding buildings. Armoured trucks had turned up with more soldiers inside. Vampires were falling. The vampires were still fighting on, but it was clear to Richie that they were going to lose. Unless the leader died. The soldiers were already afraid, without their leader their fear would treble. Richie had seen it several times in the past. He turned back to the soldier, his expression cold.

  “Your name?” he said again.

  “Roman.” He didn’t wait for a response. He squeezed the trigger. Richie saw the small wooden bullet soaring through the air toward him. Shooting a vampire when they were looking at you was never a good idea. The bullets might have been modified, but the gun had not. It could not fire a bullet any faster than a regular gun could. Richie batted the bullet out of the air and ran at Roman. Roman got one more shot out but Richie dodged it. He reached Roman and tore the gun from his grip, tossing it aside. He kicked Roman in the back of the legs and sent him down to the ground. Roman grunted as he landed. Richie struck down with his foot, but Roman rolled out of the way and leapt back to his feet.

  Richie was too surprised to react in any useful way. No human should have been able to move that fast, especially not one with the bulk of Roman.

  “Faster than you expected?” Roman said. Then he thrust his boot into Richie’s abdomen. Richie didn’t bother defending himself because he didn’t realise he needed to. A human kick would not usually cause him any harm. This one did. Richie flew backwards, arse first, and smashed into one of the trucks before collapsing on the ground. “Eloise really was holding out on us!” Roman yelled triumphantly. “She had these super tablets all along.”

  Richie got up, the pain gone and the shock wearing off too. He knew what he was dealing with now. “I’m glad you’ve had your little tablet. Now the fight’s even your death will be even more satisfying.”

  He charged at Roman and Roman charged at him. They collided in a frenzy of fists. Both were skilled fighters and both had speed and strength on their side. Richie’s speed and strength was a tad higher than Roman’s, but Roman was a little more skilled. If anybody had been watching they would have thought they were watching a perfectly choreographed fight sequence.

  “This is the fight I’ve been looking for my whole life!” Roman screamed before he smashed his forehead into Richie’s face.

  Richie staggered backward. Roman was about to press his attack when Jacob came hurtling out of nowhere and knocked Roman through the picket fence and into the churchyard.

  “We are well met,” Jacob said in awe at the soldiers fighting skills so far.

  “We are,” Richie agreed. “They have enhancing drugs. I need to kill him.”

  Richie stepped into the churchyard, Jacob right behind him. Roman was already on his feet, staring at them, smiling inanely. “Two against one. Alright then. I don’t mind those odds,” Roman said and the fight started anew.

  Bradley stared at the screens above the control panel. It was a bloodbath outside. A tangled mess of humans and vampires was spread allover the street. The screaming and the gunshots could be heard inside the church. It was a war zone. The vampires had been winning initially but then Eloise had called for backup. Every soldier in town was congregating outside. All except the four who had remained in the church to guard Eloise. Eloise had seemed scared for a moment before the backup and arrived. She’d even seen fit to give Bradley a gun, though she did not have one herself. He held it now as he watched the battle rage on.

  “On the bright side, if all the vampires come to us it will be an awful lot easier to kill them all,” Eloise said cheerfully. She was standing at one of the stations behind Bradley working on something. Bradley wondered if she’d have to fill out a report about all this and if she would tell the truth. He found it amusing to imagine if a government minister left that on the train.

  “I didn’t realise there was a bright side to this,” Bradley said dismally.

  “There is always a bright… bright… bright… bright… bright side, Bradley. You just need to change your perspective.”

  “Do you really want to destroy this town? Don’t you care about it at all?” he asked. She’d always been an evil cow, but back when she’d been on the council she’d always given the impression that she cared about Cedarstone.

  “A town is made of bricks and mortar. This one is filled with evil. I have a duty to purify it and once I have done that it can be rebuilt and it will be better than it ever was before,” she said.

  Bradley tore his eyes from the screens and looked down at the pistol in his hands. He was armed. She wasn’t. He could end it all right now. One bullet. Would it end, though? If she died would the soldiers stop? Would they carry on regardless? If Eloise died who would take over?

  “You look scared, Bradley?” she asked.

  “I am,” he confessed.

  “Don’t worry. Those vampires will not make it inside,” she assured him. “Or is that what scares you? You want the vampires to come in?”

  “No,” Bradley said. His fingers wrapped around the gun’s handle.

  “How did they know where we were? Do not take me for a fool, Bradley. I know when I am being lied to.”

  “You are a fool,” he said. “Why else would you give me a weapon?” He raised the gun, aiming for her heart. She didn’t even blink.

  “You haven’t left my sight all evening so you must be broadcasting everything I’ve said to the enemy. How are you doing that?” she asked.

  “I’m not going to tell you. I’d rather send you to your grave with that question still on your mind. See if your God’s kind enough to answer it for you,” he said the words with vehemence, almost ecstatic that he was finally going to end the miserable wretch’s life. He squeezed the trigger. The gun clicked, but no bullet was fired. Bradley squeezed again, but once again there was an empty click.

  “You didn’t really think I was going to give you a loaded gun?” Eloise asked. One of the soldiers fired their rifle and the bullet tore into Bradley’s shoulder. The pistol clattered to the ground and Bradley spun around. His legs gave way and he fell, grabbing hold of the control panel to stop himself from falling. Another shot. Another bullet dug into him, this time his back. It hit something vital, he could feel it. A coldness was passing over him, moving from the place they bullet had hit.

  “Why even give me the gun?” he gasped. His arms were trembling as he struggled to keep himself up.

  “I wanted to see if you’d use it. You didn’t disappoint me. At least you can say you’re not a coward. You’re weak, pathetic and ineffective, but at least you’re not a coward,” she said.

  “This whole thing… was a suicide mission,” he mumbled. Blood was dripping allover the buttons. The green and blue buttons turned red. Red. Red buttons. The red button. The big red button. “Suicide mission,” he repeated. He knew what he had to do. Eloise figured it out too. He reached up and flicked the black switch. The green light blinked once and turned red.

  “No, stop him!” she screamed. The fear and fury brought a smile to Bradley’s dying lips. He reached out just as another bullet hit him. This one got his heart. The room started to fade. His arm fell limply. His hand hit the big red button. Just before the church disappeared and Bradley died he saw fire consume everything. He heard Eloise scream.

  The church exploded in a cloud of orange fire that flew up into the dark sky. The streets around it lit up clearly in the darkness. Brick flew out in every direction striking soldier and vampire alike. Vehicles, humans, vampires were all blown away. Richie, Jacob and Roman were all sent sprawling through the hot fiery air.

  Richie’s fleshed was charred, his hair singed. He rolled over and saw the smoking husk of the church. Soldiers and vampires were sprawled around him. Some dead, most just injured. The fighting continued out
side of the blast radius. Even as he watched he could see the survivors of the explosion pulling themselves up and continuing the fight. Not all of them, though. Seeing the church destroyed and robbed some of the soldiers of their will to fight and they turned to flee instead. Richie got up, his skin already healing. He walked toward the churchyard. It was unlikely that Roman had survived after being that close to the explosion, Richie only managed it because he was a vampire, but who knew what those pills could achieve. Richie hoped he was alive. He’d been deprived of killing Eloise, he really wanted to kill Roman.

  “Hey, Richie!” Roman yelled.

  Richie turned and saw a heavily burned soldier standing across the road. He had Jacob on his knees before him, a pistol aimed at Jacob’s head. “Come closer. I want to see the look in your eyes when I kill your boyfriend.”

  “This is between us,” Richie said, approaching carefully. “He’s not a part of it.”

  “He made himself a part of it when he saved you.”

  “Your boss is dead,” Richie said. “Stand down and leave. I’ll tell my guys to let you go.”

  “Richie! We’re winning!” Roman bellowed with laughter. “It doesn’t matter if Eloise is dead. I have my orders.”

  “Your men are fleeing. You can’t win now.”

  “Watch me.”

  “You want a fight? A real fight? Let him go or I won’t give you one,” Richie threatened. He looked around desperately and saw a square of metal. Debris from the explosion. It looked sharp.

  “As if you could help yourself,” he said, but the doubt was in his tone.

  “I’ve had more than enough fights in my life.” To demonstrate his willingness not to fight, Richie lowered himself to his knees.

  “Richie, what are you doing?” demanded Jacob. “Get up and fight!”