by Paul Cave
Trask nodded. “I’ll be waiting.” The armour-clad vampire spun around, then disappeared in the opposite direction.
“Well,” Balack began, “what the hell are you waiting for?”
Jacob and Pet stayed perched on the bike. “Where do we get the wood from?” the tracker asked.
The captain grumbled with agitation. The one who did all the talking was obviously just as dumb as the other one looked. As if addressing a dim-witted child, Balack said, “What the fuck do you call all this?” His arms swept outwards in a gesture towards the surrounding trees.
“Shit…” Jacob moaned under his breath. Pet turned to the dark woodlands and shuddered.
Jacob dropped the kickstand and climbed off the bike. Pet followed. They stood facing the huge captain. “What do we use to chop them down with?” the tracker asked.
Balack threw his hands up in exasperation. Why had he picked these two idiots? Trask was going to have him hung upside-down from a tree and left for the wolves to pick clean. “An axe or hatchet, possibly?”
“And where are they stored?”
A whine of desperation leaked from the captain’s blood-red lips. “Follow me,” he urged, and led them away from the tents. They followed him to the rear of the trailer, where the vampire opened up a storage compartment. As the captain rummaged around inside, Jacob tried his best to penetrate the metal plates which covered the windows. Only darkness presented itself. The interior was a mystery.
Balack handed over two short hatchets. One each. Jacob tensed as Pet’s bony fingers wrapped themselves around the short handle. He held his breath, unsure if the vampire would launch into an attack. He didn’t. Instead, he peered into the polished blade and then huffed miserably at his reflection. A word, just about understandable, bled out from the corners of his clamped jaw. The single word caught Jacob off-guard. “Ugly,” Pet said, and this acknowledgment of imperfection sent an unsettling shiver down Jacob’s spine. He looked into Pet’s eyes and was shocked to find pain and misery there. Did the vampire have a deeper understanding of his own identity? The tracker held Pet’s gaze for a second. Now was not the time to develop empathy towards the thing. He needed to remain focused on the task at hand, and Pet’s time of destiny was almost upon him.
“Let’s go,” Jacob said, and he led the skinny vampire towards the line of trees.
They broke through the black canopy and took the first tentative steps towards a deeper darkness. The woods appeared to have shrunken within the last hour or so, drawing the shadows closer, bringing the night almost within reach. Small twigs snapped under their feet as they traversed a small incline, and the sound reverberated noisily within this claustrophobic space. Jacob imagined claws – sharp claws – padding closer under the cover of rotten foliage.
It took a couple of minutes to find a suitable tree to work on. Most of the trees were tall, skeletal towers. Now, after years of darkness, they had begun to rot and wilt, and they stood bare like forgotten sentinels. Nevertheless, most had trunks wider than Jacob, and he was forced to search deeper into the woodlands for a more suitable find. The highway became a faint strip of light, way off in the distance.
“Here,” Jacob said, drawing Pet’s attention.
The vampire stopped to stare at the tracker.
“Let’s hurry,” he said, and began to work at a tree.
They worked hard, quickly making a large pile of timber between them.
“That should do it,” Jacob said, as he wiped sweat off his brow.
Pet nodded and the hatchet returned to his belt. They scooped up an armful of wood each and then began to trek back through the dark woodland. For a second Jacob became disorientated, the highway lost in the sea of trees. Then a faint flicker of light found its way to him. He changed his direction slightly and headed towards the light.
They got within about fifty yards of the highway when suddenly a short, sharp bark sounded from their right. Both froze rigid. Another brief snarl sounded, but this one had found its way from the left.
“Shit…” Jacob whispered. He turned to Pet and saw terror in the vampire’s eyes. “Don’t move,” he breathed. Shadows shifted all around them. A loud pistol shot sounded and the phantom shadows froze, instantly becoming part of a greater darkness. The noise revealed itself to be no more helpful than an exhaust back-firing. The tracker felt his chest tighten with fear and the logs in his arms felt as if they weighed more than a ton.
Another bark came, but this one carried an element of desperation with it. Sleek bodies appeared all around them, and Jacob understood why the last bark had not been secretive or masked. The wolves were all in place. No need for secrecy anymore. The tracker’s legs went weak with fear. There were at least a dozen of them. He quickly looked from one to the next, in the hope of finding a large grey one out of the many. But the pack consisted of nothing but dark, matted coats, which hung loosely from scrawny torsos. They looked near starved to death and in much worse shape than the first horde of wolves he had encountered.
There would be no chance of a truce this time.
None whatsoever.
Chapter Forty-Three
Bloodied fingerprints covered the keypad in a series of crimson swirls and loops. The door to the underground stood ajar. Wind whistled eerily through the shaft, from the surface above down to this, the lowest level.
“Something’s in here,” the soldier said.
Another soldier bent to examine the keypad. It didn’t make any sense. Why would the door remain open? Only a fool would leave it so. The second soldier used his rifle to push the door fully open. He stepped inside the access shaft. A ladder climbed upwards before disappearing out of view. Most of it was hidden in shadow, but a tiny speck of light flickered at the very top. A ghostly breeze scraped cold fingers across the soldier’s face.
“Let’s get out of here,” the first soldier suggested, remaining in the main passageway.
“Wait,” the other said. “I think I can see something.”
“What?”
The soldier squinted. What was that? The flicker of light drew nearer, burning the shadows away as it came. The sound of hollow footsteps dropped from above, amplified many times over by the resonance of the shaft.
“Let’s go,” the other soldier urged.
“In a second. I can almost make it out.”
The second soldier looked around the main passageway. The bulkhead lights above did little to improve the gloom. Both ends of the passageway were shrouded in a deep darkness.
The two soldiers had been part of the search party, intent on finding the old priest and the woman named Sarah. The soldier shivered. Fifteen minutes earlier, the party of six had stumbled upon what they concluded to be Father. Or rather, what was left of the holyman. Not a lot. The corpse’s head was missing, and the only way of identifying the body had been by its clothes – a long, dark cloak and a red-stained dog collar. The rest of the party had disappeared, in search of Major Patterson, ready to share the grisly news. Only two of them had stayed behind, and their instructions had been to guard the corpse and be ready if the killer returned. Not long after the search party had separated, the two soldiers heard furtive footsteps coming from further down the passageway. Against his better judgment, the soldier had followed his comrade, and now he found himself trapped between two wedges of darkness.
“C’mon, time to go,” he said.
The scrape of a boot pulled his attention towards the dark. Two faint lights glinted in his direction. Flashlights and the return of the search party, maybe? The lights seemed to hover at head height. They stopped tantalisingly close, but did not come any nearer.
“Hello?” the soldier called. A silent reply pulled him away from his companion.
The lights blinked out.
He froze.
The lights returned but they had multiplied. Now, four bright orbs stared back at him. The soldier stepped closer. What the hell were they? Another step closer, and another set appeared. The two in the middle blinked on and of
f.
Suddenly, they made sense.
Eyes.
He was looking into eyes. Not human eyes but… Vampires!
The soldier staggered back and the gloom parted to reveal three ghastly faces: two male and one female. The woman at the centre grinned and her smile was bright-red and horrific. Blood dripped from the corners of her mouth. “Where are you going?” Sarah asked.
The soldier backed further away. He passed the open doorway and tried to warn his comrade. His words of warning were barely audible. “Run … now …” he said, in a terrified whisper. He continued to back away, but the terrible faces matched him step for step. One of the bulkhead lights above him flickered out. It pulsed for a second but then sputtered and died, dropping the passageway into near-darkness. Panic set the soldier running. He tore through the pitch-black tunnel and raced blindly for safety. The next corner offered the solace of light, and he whimpered with insane glee. Under the bright canopy he staggered and lurched and put distance between him and the three dreadful faces. He rounded a bend before running straight into someone. Spinning almost full circle, he fell to the rock floor. The light shifted and the soldier recognised the individual instantly.
“They’re overrunning the underground,” he explained quickly.
The newcomer’s head tilted to one side.
“We’ve got to go get help,” the soldier said.
A hand reached out, ready to help the soldier to his feet. He took it and climbed up off the rock. Footsteps echoed eerily from the passageway. “C’mon, we need to get…” His plea was choked short. The hand holding his felt wet and, as he looked down, he saw that the fingers dripped with blood. He tried to yank himself free but the grip tightened.
Daniel Harper smiled. It was a dreadful parody of something caring. The weapon he carried slipped off his shoulder. One of his bloodied fingers curled around the trigger. “Don’t worry,” Daniel said. “I’ll save you.” He brought the weapon up and jammed the barrel into the soldier’s eye.
***
The light inside the shaft intensified. The soldier could almost hear the crackle of flames. Now, he could see nearly the whole ladder as it stretched towards the surface. It was then he realised it must have been one continuous light source. One long torch that started at the summit and continued downwards, finishing less than thirty feet above him.
He tried to measure the distance from the bottom to the top in an attempt to calculate how many lit torches it would take to fill the length of the shaft. At least a hundred – soldiers, he concluded. His brow furrowed. Where had they all come from? All of a sudden he understood, and the blood drained from his face.
“Dear God,” he muttered.
He turned towards the doorway, ready to warn his comrade of the immediate danger. Rather than the expected face, he was instead confronted by the features of a woman. He opened his mouth, but a burst of gunfire shocked him into silence. The woman seemed either to miss the noise completely or simply chose to ignore it.
“What was that?” he asked. The soldier smelt a coppery stench. He looked past her and saw two more faces. They were anything but human. Sarah laughed at his fear and a rivulet of blood ran from the corner of her mouth to the tip of her chin. The droplet hung for a second, then dripped to the floor.
“Fuck you,” the soldier cried in defiance. The weapon at his side rose, ready to fire at point-blank range. Sarah moved in a blur. She sidestepped to her right and slammed the door shut. A deep, hollow boom sounded which almost deafened the soldier.
Once his senses had returned, he heard the rasp and hiss of something above. Terror steered his gaze upwards. The light had finally reached him. Something that had no knowledge of heat or warmth hung above. It reached out towards him with a cold, merciless hand.
Sarah turned away from the door. A muffled scream of agony came from behind it. It lasted a mere moment before falling silent. A second later a thud, thud of arrival sounded. She punched the number into the keypad - the one that Daniel had shown her - then stepped back to allow the first of a hundred soldiers to cross over the threshold.
***
The sound of gunfire halted the group’s progress. Major Patterson signalled for them to stop. The tunnel ahead flashed with a strobe-like effect, and the sound of a weapon discharging echoed loudly towards them.
“Hold here,” Patterson instructed.
Lieutenant Farr and about a dozen fully-armed soldiers gathered at the mouth of the dark passageway. Farr played torchlight onto the walls, following the descent of the tunnel. It led from the second level, where most of the civilians resided, to the lowest level, where only shadows and darkness prevailed.
“Who’s down there?” Patterson asked.
Farr clicked the flashlight off. “Nobody. It’s empty. Only Jacob Cain strays beyond this point. It’s too damp for anyone to sleep in with any real sense of comfort. And we haven’t used it for storage in years.”
“So what’s down there?” the Major asked.
Farr shrugged. “Nothing.”
“Think,” Patterson pushed, “there must be something.”
“Wait a minute. There’s the access shaft that heads straight outside. It leads to a small hatchway that only the trackers use to slip out of the underground. It’s on the other side of the hill, opposite the main entrance.”
“What about security?”
“Nothing top side, just the hatchway, but there’s an automatic key code required to open the lower door. Even then, the codes can only be entered from inside the complex.”
“Who knows the code?”
Farr paused for a moment. He began to unconsciously count the fingers of one hand. “Jacob Cain, myself and the Harper brothers.” He added a quick explanation as to why the list was so short. “We never use it, not even in an emergency. It would be virtually impossible to evacuate everyone via the shaft. It’s too narrow. It’d take hours and hours.”
The short list seemed to pain the old Major.
“What is it?” Farr asked.
“We know Jacob and Elliot aren’t anywhere in the valley, and you’re here. That only leaves… ”
“Daniel,” Farr interjected, wide-eyed.
Patterson staggered slightly, the relevance of the information overwhelming. “No… ” he moaned. “Not Daniel.”
The Major’s pain spread to Farr. He had seen too many good men – young men – fall at the hands of the vampires. He took at step into darkness and the tunnel dared him to vent his anger.
“No,” Patterson said, halting Farr’s descent. “Lieutenant, what is done is done. If Daniel has fallen, then God be with him. We must not let our feelings for one jeopardise the safety of all others.” Farr stopped. He nodded and stepped back into the light. Patterson’s hand fell onto his shoulder. The old man smiled. “We are both too old to be acting foolishly. Now, we must lead the rest to safety.”
“Safety?”
The Major looked around the carved rock and his face turned sad. “I fear this home of ours has been compromised. It is time we said goodbye.”
“What are you saying?” Farr asked.
Patterson held the lieutenant’s gaze. “That we evacuate immediately.”
***
The wail of a klaxon jolted Rebecca out of her troubled sleep. Her last hour had been spent avoiding the sharp claws and terrible fangs of hideous creatures. One of them had worn the robes of a holy man, and the other had a monstrous face hidden behind a veil of beauty. Scratch lay curled up at Rebecca’s side. The sound of the klaxon caused his ears to twitch slightly but failed to rouse the mutt from his slumber.
“Wake up, sleepyhead,” Rebecca said, and nudged the terrier.
The dog’s head lifted from his paws. He yawned and then looked at Rebecca sleepily, offering her an unenthusiastic, Woof.
“C’mon boy, something’s happened.”
Another unenthusiastic, Woof followed.
Rebecca climbed from under the table and stretched her back. Scratch padd
ed to her side, the cobwebs of sleep finally brushed clear. He looked around the canteen area as it began to fill with anxious-looking people. Most were half-dressed, puffy-eyed and confused.
“What’s going on?” a woman asked a tall, near-naked man.
“Hell if I know,” he replied, slipping his rifle from one hand to the next. He turned his attention towards one of the exits, then strode purposefully away in just his under-shorts. More and more people filed into the canteen. Some carried weapons, and others children or belongings or both.
“It’s the evacuation signal,” an old and bent man announced.
“Dear God,” a woman gasped, her face ashen white. She crossed herself and then tore off in the same direction as the semi-naked soldier.
The canteen appeared to act like a human heart. People arrived confused and disorientated on one side, only to disappear with purpose and determination on the other.
Scratch barked to get Rebecca’s attention.
She followed him into a passageway. It curved towards the surface. They passed a large group of soldiers who were heading in the opposite direction. “Where are we going?” Rebecca asked, as they climbed higher.
Yap! Yap!
She followed him to the end of the passageway and found herself at a wide-open junction. Three more tunnels branched off in different directions. Almost a hundred people were packed into the junction, filtering into the three different passageways. Some were armed and they looked anxious as they readied for battle; others appeared calm as they were shepherded away from the packed intersection.
“Which way now?” Rebecca asked.
Scratch stood for a second, undecided. Then he trotted over to the left-hand side and joined the back of a long queue. Rebecca followed him. Together, they filtered through the tight tunnel, shuffling forward, yard by yard, until breaking free at the other end. They spilled into a massive cavern. Fleets of vehicles were lined up on either side of it, some already packed full of people or possessions. The air had turned acrid with the fog of exhaust fumes.