Apartment 1C was home to Cole and Kallie Yeats. They had been packing and preparing to leave. Kallie wanted to find one of the safe zones that had withstood the Rippers so far. Cole had wanted to stay in their home, but as chaos claimed the city, he found himself shifting more toward Kallie’s plan.
It was too late to put the plan into action. Cole pushed Kallie into their bedroom.
“Go! Get out through the window!” he insisted. Kallie wanted to argue, but he shoved her harder and slammed the door shut. He stayed behind to fight as the Rippers pounded their way through the apartment’s front door.
The blade of the kitchen knife he gripped bent as the first Ripper slammed into him. The feral woman didn’t react to the blade imbedded in her stomach. She snapped at Cole as he held her back.
Cole’s grip slipped and those gnashing teeth found purchase against his face. He shrieked in agony as she tore off his nose and half of his left cheek. He struggled to release himself from her grasp, but another Ripper barreled into them from behind.
Cole went down under the weight of both of the cannibalistic monsters. One of them bit into his neck. Another ripped chunks of his right arm off. Cole’s screams joined the brutal music of the other dying individuals in the apartment complex.
Outside apartment 1C, Kallie stumbled and fell. She cried over the loss of her husband. Distracted by the blur of her tears, she didn’t see the Ripper who’d come into their bedroom, following the sounds of her escape. When she stood, the monster pulled her back inside the open window. Before she was even fully back in the apartment, the Ripper buried its red stained teeth into the skin of her neck.
Kallie thrashed against the creature’s hold, but as the air wheezed out of the hole in her skin, the strength drained from her body. She was left on the bed to bleed out until she stood to join the ranks of the Rippers.
So it went, across cities, villages, towns and remote locations all over the world. People ran and hid, fought and barricaded, but humans alone could not stand against the tide of Rippers.
As they worked silently and quickly to shimmy down the fire escape, Phoebe hoped that with a vampire, they would gain a better chance at withstanding the flood.
Chapter Fifteen – Elise
The Rippers who had converged on the apartment complex had made their way inside. Phoebe saw from their place on the second level of the fire escape that they were alone in the back area except for one woman who’d had the same idea as them.
The woman gripped the edge of the fire escape railing with one hand. The other rested on her heavily-pregnant belly. Her dark eyes locked on Jameson’s as the vampire and his group began to move over to the landing she stood on.
“Stay where you are!” the woman commanded. She backed away from them, one hand still protectively on her stomach as she thrust the other out as though to prevent them from moving closer.
“Listen, we’re just trying to get away, too,” Phoebe said as she drew the kids closer to her. “You could come with us. It’d be better than being alone, wouldn’t it?”
The woman looked as though she didn’t trust the suggestion, but she was less resistant to accept when it came from Phoebe.
“My name’s Elise,” the dark-skinned woman said. She pushed her thick hair away from her pretty, worried face and held out a hand. “I’ll help you over. If we can get around to the front, I have a van.”
Phoebe sent Hannah over first, then Eli. Leland went next. He was followed by Phoebe, who reached out for Carmen. The others began their descent down the fire escape as screams and roars continued to pour from inside the apartment complex.
When Phoebe reached the first floor landing of the fire escape, hands burst from the window she stood beside. Jameson, who was on the landing with her, shoved Phoebe back and broke the hands at the wrists. The Ripper inside shrieked its outrage as Jameson turned away and followed Phoebe down.
He realized in horror that when he’d pushed her away from the Ripper, she’d fallen down the ladder. She was on the ground, breathing but unconscious.
“Shit,” Jameson muttered as he dropped down next to her. The blood loss must have slowed her reflexes. “Leland, carry Carmen. I’ll take Phoebe.”
They rushed around the far side of the apartment building. Jameson went first. Not only was he able to move with little trouble added by Phoebe’s weight, but he was the best chance of fighting off a Ripper if it threatened them upon reaching the parking lot. A group of them he’d have trouble with, but one or two he could handle.
The parking lot was clear for the first few moments they ran across it. However, the group soon caught the attention of some of the Rippers who hadn’t moved to higher floors.
Some of the apartment building’s previous residents joined in pursuit as the Rippers recognized prey on the move. They’re shrill wails and bloodied faces caused the desperate humans to move as fast as their bodies allowed.
“Keys!” Jameson shouted to Elise. She wrestled them from her pocket as she ran and tossed them to him.
Jameson put on a burst of vampire speed and unlocked the doors of the van. He had every door open and Phoebe resting in the very back by the time the others reached the vehicle.
“Get in,” Jameson shouted. The Rippers had caught up with them.
The first of the Rippers was a man wearing spectacles. His jaw dangled from his face. Part of his cheek had ragged teeth marks torn through it.
When the Ripper came at Jameson, the vampire took him by the throat and snarled at him. The creature’s blood smelled contaminated.
“Get in the van!” Jameson growled again as he tore through the Ripper’s throat. The creature kept coming even with the hideous wound.
Jameson bared his fangs and snarled at the thrashing Ripper. Reaching into the mangled flesh, he grabbed for the blood-slicked bones of the beast’s spine and pulled hard. A wet, thick ‘crack’ indicated the snapping of the vertebrae.
The Ripper instantly stopped trying to reach Jameson. The vampire dropped the limp body as two more approached with hands reaching out toward him. Jameson took the first one by its outstretched arm and swung it around with as much force he could muster into the other. They tripped over each other and went down.
Jameson took the opportunity of their distraction to lunge for the van. Everyone else was already inside: Elise in the driver seat, Leland sitting passenger, and the kids in the back. Phoebe was still unconscious in the far rear.
Jameson squeezed himself in the back with the children and shouted at Elise, “Drive!”
Elise slammed on the accelerator and the van shot forward.
“Jesus,” she murmured as they peeled out of the parking lot and away from the group of Rippers. “Holy mother of God.”
“Out of the city,” Jameson suggested as he buckled the kids in as well as he could. He decided he would sit in the far back with Phoebe. If they crashed, he had the best chance of surviving even without a seatbelt. “We shouldn’t stay here. There are too many of those things and apparently they’re much worse at night.”
“Do we have any idea where we should go?” Leland asked as he turned around to look at Jameson. The vampire frowned.
“I don’t know of anywhere. The safe zones the humans were making were falling all over the place.”
“Wait,” Elise interrupted. She weaved the van around two crashed vehicles. The warped metal wrapped around each other and smoke belched from under the hood of the more damaged vehicle. There were people inside. Elise didn’t look too closely at them as she passed.
“What do you mean when you say ‘the humans’? Aren’t you human?” Though she chuckled at her own words, the way Jameson had spoken perplexed her.
“He’s a vampire,” Leland said as he turned back around. At Elise’s puzzled, disbelieving expression, Leland gestured around to the world outside the van. “You think that’s any weirder than this?”
Elise blinked hard a few times. She didn’t quite have a response to that.
Jameson didn’t have to check the pulse beneath Phoebe’s jaw. He could hear the strong, steady beat of her heart even over Elise and Leland’s discussion and the sound of the vehicle moving.
“Phoebe, I’m sorry,” Jameson whispered. “You were fine without us until this point. We teamed up and I injured you…twice. Sorry, kiddo. You have to wake up. The longer you sleep, the worse the damage. So please wake up.”
Phoebe didn’t move or awaken. With a sigh, Jameson leaned back against the wall of the van. The space was cramped, but he wasn’t bothered by it. He drew his long legs up and crossed his arms over them as he watched the world roll by out of the tinted back windows.
Dawn would be coming soon. Elise had a blanket rolled up and tucked against the backseat, which Jameson pulled toward him and unfolded. He placed it over Phoebe for the time being, but would have to take it for himself when the sun rose if he didn’t have a better option. With the sun would come the threat of death for him. If he wasn’t under cover, he would burn.
Though being a vampire had likely saved him from the Rippers thus far, Jameson hated the weakness that came from his vampiric form. He couldn’t be out in the sun. How would he be able to be a part of this group of humans if he couldn’t even function with them in the daytime?
Elise drove, Phoebe slept, and Jameson worried. What would happen to them when the next day came?
Chapter Sixteen – The Wrong Side of Town
Shortly before the sun rose, Jameson curled under the blanket. He made sure every part of his body was covered and huddled against the threat of what the sun would do to him.
“Jameson, we’ll try to find a tarp or something for you when we can,” Leland assured the vampire from the front seat.
“I can’t drive anymore,” Elise announced. Her dark eyes were bleary with exhaustion. “We need to stop so someone can switch in or I can get some sleep. Where would we be safe to stop?”
Leland looked out the passenger window and said, “Look.”
Throughout the night, Rippers had thrown themselves against the van, sometimes rocking it, sometimes bouncing off with furious howls. They hadn’t encountered a single one who didn’t try to get at them in some way.
With the sunlight spilling down on them, the Rippers moved more lethargically. They stumbled into each other and didn’t try to attack the van at all.
“I think they’re different in the daytime,” Leland theorized. “Unless they’re right near people, they seem less likely to attack, don’t they?”
Elise squinted out the windshield. The van passed within feet of a Ripper wandering in the middle of the street. Though the mirror almost clipped what was once a pretty young woman, the creature ignored the van completely.
“I think you’re right,” Elise agreed with wonderment in her voice. “They aren’t interested in us at all right now.”
“When the night comes again, it might be different,” Leland guessed. “But for now, if we stay out of their sight and keep quiet…” His suggestion trailed off. He didn’t want to be the one to say for sure that they could stop and stretch, or eat, or pee. He really had to pee. But what if he was wrong about the Rippers’ disinterest? They could step out only to be torn to pieces as soon as one of the creatures noticed they were no longer in the van.
“If we could go somewhere with some shade, that would be greatly appreciated,” Jameson piped up from the back. His voice was muffled by the blanket he’d tucked himself under.
“There,” Leland proposed. The gas station was mostly abandoned, with only three cars in the lot and no Rippers wandering around. “You need gas anyway. We can try it and see what happens. The awning over the pumps blocks the sun. Jameson can step out and not get lit up.”
“Sounds great,” Jameson agreed. “Let’s do that.”
Elise pulled the van into the parking lot of the gas station and sidled up to pump three. When she cut the engine, she expected Rippers would converge on them from every seemingly empty corner of the area around them. Instead, the parking lot remained empty of movement. She didn’t trust the stillness.
“Jameson, we’re in the shade,” Leland announced. “We need to check to see if the gas station itself is empty then I think everyone really needs a break.”
Jameson pulled the blanket off of his head. It was only after he’d removed his protection that he realized Leland could have been lying to him. After seeing for sure he was what he’d said, Leland could have decided Jameson was too dangerous to be kept around.
“Glad you trust me, kid,” Jameson murmured to himself as he sat up. They were indeed under the shade of the large awning.
Phoebe groaned and rolled over. Jameson put a calming hand on her shoulder as her hazel eyes eased open. She squinted up at him and gripped her temple with one hand.
“I don’t feel good,” she whispered thickly.
“You lost a lot of blood and took a hard hit to the head when you fell,” Jameson explained. He reached for one of the bottles of untouched orange juice and passed it to Phoebe. “You need to drink this and eat something.”
Phoebe grimaced. “Food is the last thing I want,” she muttered.
“And it’s the thing you need most,” Jameson countered. “You’ll just have to deal with it.”
Phoebe allowed Jameson to tip the bottle of juice to her parted lips.
As she drank, Jameson said, “I can’t go into the store. There’s a stretch of space that’s exposed and I’d get flash fried. I’ll stay by the vehicle and protect it. Leland, do you think you can go in and grab some things while you check it out?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Leland agreed as he hopped out of the passenger seat.
Leland expected as soon as his feet touched the pavement, a dozen Rippers would explode from secret hiding places and overtake him. When nothing reacted to the small sound of his movement, his nerves became even tenser.
“I have a credit card,” Elise told Leland as he rounded the driver’s side of the van. She’d already stepped down and headed to the pump. Stretching in relief, she arched her back and sighed happily before taking out her wallet.
“You think it’ll work?” Leland asked.
“The power seems to be on still,” Elise responded as she took out her gold credit card. “I’ve never had to go in before with a card.”
As she slipped her card in the slot designed for it, Elise held her breath. There were any number of problems that could present themselves when it came to getting gas with the card. The store’s system could be down. The credit card’s company could have had irreparable technical problems since the apparent end of the world.
With a beep, the card was approved. Elise let out the breath she’d been holding and offered Leland a smile and a thumbs up.
She started pumping gas as Jameson climbed out of the van’s far back door. The strange man was somewhat of an enigma to her and she watched him with what she considered was healthy suspicion.
“Two of the kids need new pull-ups on,” Jameson spoke. “They all need to stretch and the oldest needs to use the bathroom in the store if possible.” The kids had managed to fall asleep throughout the night. They’d woken up hungry, uncomfortable, and two of them were wet.
Elise didn’t know if he was talking to her or himself. “There should be some stuff in there if it’s clear,” she said. She hoped she wasn’t intruding on his personal, verbal musings.
Jameson smiled at her. Elise realized there was something more attractive about the man than his oceanic eyes, tall, muscular form, and smooth voice. There was something enigmatic and otherworldly about him. Vampiric allure? Perhaps, she thought. It was still hard to believe one of her unexpected travelling companions was a vampire.
Phoebe leaned her legs out of the back of the van and looked around. With dismay, she realized they were out of town, but that they had gone the wrong way from her uncle’s ranch. By not telling anyone her idea about a safe place to go, she’d allowed them to be taken farther away from her goal.
“Dang it,” she whispered to herself.
Jameson popped his head around the corner of the vehicle. “Something wrong?” he questioned.
Phoebe’s pulse picked up and she scooted to the side away from Jameson. It was just a few inches done without conscious thought, but it stung Jameson a little. He cleared his throat and stepped back.
“Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
Phoebe worked to calm her breathing. Jameson hadn’t done anything she shouldn’t have expected. Even if it had taken a blow to the back of his head to get him off of her, he hadn’t killed her. And he felt bad about it. She could see it in the curve of his frown and the sadness in his expressive blue eyes.
“It’s fine. I’m just jumpy. I think we all are,” she said. “But we’re going the wrong way.”
Jameson’s frown deepened. Concern replaced the sadness in his gaze as he came around the van fully and leaned against it.
“What do you mean we’re going the wrong way?” he asked. “I didn’t know we had anywhere specific in mind.”
“We didn’t,” Phoebe agreed guiltily. “I wanted to wait to see if you guys were trustworthy before I told you about the place I wanted to go.”
“After last night, I’m pretty sure you don’t have any trust for anyone.”
Phoebe fiddled with the hem of her shirt. She regretted the loss of her mother’s book and wished she had it to squeeze.
“I don’t really have much of a choice,” Phoebe said at last. “You’ve told the truth to me so far, as crazy as the truth has been. And I just want to get somewhere safe. We can figure things out when we get there. Frankly, we wouldn’t be alive if we hadn’t been together by this point.” She gave him a look that indicated she thought the statement had been dumb and said, “Well, maybe you would. Those creatures don’t seem to stand much chance against you.”
“A few of them at a time, maybe,” Jameson agreed with a nod. “But I want to be with a group of humans. I’m looking for other vampires, but I don’t want to be locked down during the day. I think even vampire strength wouldn’t be enough if I got overwhelmed by a large group of these things. Having humans who can keep us mobile helps me more than you realize.”
The New Night Novels (Book 1): Rippers: A New Night Novel Page 8