by J. Axbridge
“Whoa,” the twins’ uttered, eyes wide.
“The cool thing is, if you kill a vamp like this, if done right you can actually save them. Because within each vampire heart also exists one drop of their original red human blood before they changed. If you can get that out and reintroduce it into their body, they can be changed back into a human. I know that sounds farfetched and a little gross but I’ve heard that story told on many late nights sitting around campfires with some of the elder werewolves of our pack. They’d shared stories of how they’d saved a friend or two using that exact technique. I know that sounds crazy, but then again, werewolves and vampires do exist so who’s to say what crazy is anymore on this earth.”
“But, can’t they just pull the stake out?” asked Ethan, fully engrossed in the tale.
“I guess they could try but grandpa always said that once it’s in it couldn’t be pulled out even by the strongest vamps. Somehow it weakened them too much and they’d eventually just bleed out and die even faster if they tried extracting it.”
“So what insane werewolf invented this weapon?” Caelyn asked, before looking down at her small survival knife surly wishing it was a vampire killing cross thingy.
“Actually it was the humans who invented this tool, back in medieval times,” Jax said, looking at the twins, “So I guess you can thank your ancestors for that.”
“That’s interesting and all Jax, but what should we do now?” Andrew leaned in close to Jax and whispered.
Jax paused in thought, looking first at the lake then back in the direction we’d come from and then to Sampson lying dead on the ground. “Seems we really have no choice, we need to push on and cross this lake. Plus those vamps who attacked Sampson are probably still out here waiting for the next darkness, and we can’t just wait around for them to strike again, it’ll be safer on the move and on the water. So we stick to the plan. We’ll cross as soon as the next darkness approaches.”
“But not before it’s too dark, right?” Ethan asked, “We’ll leave when it’s still light?”
“Exactly,” said Jax. “We want to be on the water when it’s dark. That way when we make it to the other side, if we don’t paddle too quickly, the sun should be rising and hopefully we’ll avoid any night attacks by the vampires on both sides of the water.”
Chapter 11 - The Crossing
Adelaide
The mood as we set out on Sampson’s oversized wooden row boat was somber to say the least, as the eight of us quietly pushed off from shore. Andrew sat up front with one paddle, followed by Jax and I seated side by side, then Caelyn, Ethan, and Victoria in the middle row followed by Arthur and finally Charles in the rear with the second paddle. Andrew and Charles paddled slowly and silently creating small ripples that gently rolled away into the darkness as we moved further and further from land.
“Why not use the motor?” Ethan leaned up and whispered between Jax and me.
“Can’t do that, too much noise, maybe after we’re in the middle we’ll start it up,” Jax whispered back without turning while he continued to scan the darkness for unwanted visitors.
“This is how George Washington must have felt crossing the Delaware,” I whispered softly into Jax’s ear. “It’s so quiet, almost too quiet. Don’t you think?” Jax nodded in agreement, his blue eyes wide taking in the night that surrounded us.
It had been overly quiet and smooth sailing for the most part, whispered conversations picking up every so often before we’d sit in silence once again. Then not quite half way across we began to hear a strange noise which only began to get louder as it came nearer. With the darkness still in full cover as if a blanket had been pulled over our eyes we knew we were sitting ducks for whatever was approaching. Our only choice was to sit silently and wait for whatever or whoever it was to pass, we didn’t want to give away our position so easily. But as the noise came ever nearer we realized it was a boat and the noise we had heard were paddles frantically smacking the water.
“The only two damn boats on the water and were going to hit each other.” Andrew broke the silence, clearly annoyed. “Who’s there?” He shouted louder than a whisper and less than a normal speaking voice as we drifted paddles up staring into nothingness.
“Vampires, a boat of vampires, GO, GO, GO!” A scared voice in the approaching boat yelled out and once again the frantic sound of oars hitting the water began.
“NO—WAIT, WE’RE NOT VAMPIRES, WE’RE HUMANS!” I shouted without a thought, eager to meet another human. Especially if these were humans with news of the Eastern settlements, I did not want them to get away in the cover of darkness. Even in the black of night I could feel angry stares from Jax and his friends but my shouting must have worked, for a moment later the frantic oaring ceased and it was dead silence once again as we floated still on the water.
“Shine a light on them already,” Arthur said in an overly commanding tone, reading my thoughts exactly.
“Go ahead Andrew,” Jax nodded to his friend. “Let’s see who’s out here with us and find out what they’re up too. The more we know on this journey the better it seems, and maybe they can help.”
Andrew pointed his flashlight at the other boat as we carefully approached and began drifting side by side bumping lightly into each other. Jax and Charles simultaneously reached out and held our two boats together while two middle aged trodden men stared back at us in disbelief, bleeding from scratches over their face and arms and appearing extremely exhausted.
“You’re human, you’re not vampires?” asked the clearly younger of the two men, dressed in blue flannel with a growing unkempt beard.
“Of course we’re not vampires. And who are you? Why are you crossing the lake going west at this dark hour?” Jax asked suspiciously.
“Because of the vampires, why else?” The younger of the two men spoke once again.
“Vampires — Really?” Jax pretended we had no knowledge of such things trying to gauge their truthfulness it seemed.
“YES, they were chasing us, killed too many of our group to count,” the older of the two finally spoke stroking his much longer and dirtier beard. “Barely made it out of our camp alive, found this boat tied up on shore and took it. Thought we was safe too, but those damn vampires, if they’re running fast enough skip right across the surface of the water like a water bug. But it seems they have to keep up that speed or they sink like a rock.”
“My brother is telling the truth. Two vamps came close to getting us but I hit one with the oar and he was stuck swimming in the muck, not sure what happened to him after that, but didn’t want to wait and find out,” Added the younger of the two men. “The second vampire turned and took off, heading back to shore I assume after his friend was down in the water.”
“Wait, you do know vampires are real don’t you? We’re not just a couple drunken guys adrift in a boat having a laugh. You must believe us!” The older man spoke up once more squinting from the bright light that was now shown directly in his aged and wrinkled eyes.
“Unfortunately . . . we do know about the vampires. My friends here met up with a couple of them back on the west shore earlier,” Jax said, still glaring untrustingly at the two unkempt, bleeding and dirty men.
“We can’t go on now.” I said, “If what they’re saying is true then it’s even more dangerous on the east side . . . Look, it’s dark and according to them there are even more vamps over there. We have to use common sense with this situation. On our side there are possibly two, on the east side there’s a heck of a lot more apparently. We need to head back, sorry Jax, but I must keep my brothers and sisters safe and this is my decision, not yours or anyone else’s.” I spoke in as calm, commanding and rational voice as I could muster. This was now the second time I’d instinctively interjected myself into a big group decision, my confidence was definitely growing and I was beginning to enjoy the natural feel of being a decision maker and leader.
“OK, Addie’s right. Let’s go back and figure this mess out. Fi
ghting vampires in the dark was never part of our original plan anyway!” Jax said and we all settled in to turn our boat around.
No sooner did we begin rowing back west when Charles, Andrew and Jax heard what they said sounded like a heavy rain storm coming from the east across the lake directly towards us. “Now what?” Jax sighed, “A freaking rain storm? That just about sums up the evening’s events.”
However, I suddenly felt on edge, my body sensed something strange, something that could only be described as fear and it seemed to be floating around us in the cool dark air. It was a weird yet frightening feeling I’d never had before but knew instinctively what it was. Unfortunately, I also knew that something bad was about to happen.
“It’s not rain; it’s them — the vampires!” Jax’s voice rose louder than he meant. “They’re coming and there are definitely a lot of them. Sounds like they’re running on water also, just like those two said.” Jax looked towards the scruffy men in the boat rowing behind us.
“We can’t out row them Jax, they’re way too fast and there’s no way we can fight them on water even if we change forms.” Andrew shouted staring in the direction of the now thunderous noise. “So what do we do? Come on, you’re the one with all the ideas. Hell, it was your idea to row across the waters in the darkness in the first place.”
“I didn’t know those damn things could run on water Andrew!” Jax spat out annoyed.
“I have an idea,” Caelyn spoke up hesitantly, “I saw in this movie once where these people flipped their boat over and nobody knew they were underneath. Would something like that work out here? I mean . . . even if they can see in the dark, we’d be out of sight under the boat.”
“That’s perfect Caelyn!” I said, and she smiled all the while I was looking around the boat for places to hang onto. “It just may work and it’s the best we can do considering . . . Let’s go people we have no time to screw around. Get ready to flip the boat!”
Arthur was in the water first, sliding in quickly and quietly, clearly understanding our lives were at stake and it was time to move. Ethan, Caelyn, Victoria and I followed his lead trying not to make loud splashes, and then the two strangers without being asked jumped into the cold water to join us. Jax, Charles and Andrew hopped into the stranger’s boat to be decoys, planning to lead the vampires away from the rest of our group.
“WOW this is f-ing cold,” I said, my teeth beginning to chatter, as together the seven of us flipped the boat by hanging onto one side while treading water hastily with our feet and reaching for anything to grab onto to pull it upside-down.
It flipped easily enough emitting a loud hollow thud and we quickly ducked underneath into the cool waters surfacing under the boat. We used our fingertips to cling tightly onto the wooden seats above us as everything below our necks dangled in the cold water. Less than a minute after turning the boat over the heavy sound of a downpour was getting even closer. I tried to picture the sight of hundreds of bare vampire feet slapping the waters as they ran across the surface at high speeds but couldn’t quite come up with a sane image. I was about to peek, when fear and common sense suddenly made me stiffen and fall silent, crushing that crazy urge in the nick of time, thankfully.
The vampires were getting a little too close for my liking and I began to worry; they seemed to be almost on top of us when they abruptly changed directions at the very last second. Small waves rolled into our capsized boat causing us to rock up and down with it, which made me grip the seats even tighter. Thankfully the vamps had noticed the ripples coming from the boat Jax was rowing away in and headed north. As they did so, the thunderous sound slowly faded in the distance and the seven of us breathed a collective sigh of relief under our overturned hiding spot.
“That was too close,” Victoria and Caelyn said together, their hearts beating abnormally fast and their knuckles sore from gripping the boat seats as tightly as I had been.
Not long after the vampires made their turn north though, we heard screams and screeches. In the distance a fight ensued, but who was winning, we had no idea at all. I clearly heard Jax yell for Charles to turn around and then Andrew scream in what could only be described as agonizing pain.
The seven of us listened quietly and hung on for what seemed hours not making a move or sound until we were sure the vampires had left the area. Finally, releasing the boat seats, our fingers stayed cramped in a painful grip posture as we cautiously emerged from underneath and quietly floated out into the open checking the area around us the best we could in the still looming darkness. Deciding it was safe enough to make a move back, we swiftly flipped the boat upright once again, gingerly climbed over the sides and slowly rowed back to where we first set off from on the west shore, not a sound from anyone except for shivers.
Chapter 12 - New Friends
Adelaide
Sorely missing Jax, Andrew and Charles, the five of us along with the addition of two strangers arrived exhausted yet safely back on shore as the first light rose beneath the thickening rust tinged blanket of clouds. Seeing the day brighten even a little gave me a sense of safety, believing the muted sun was at least light enough to keep vampires at bay.
“Kids, my brother and I can’t thank you enough for saving our lives and we haven’t even introduced ourselves properly yet. My name is Earl and this is my older brother Dillon.” The brothers extended their thick rough hands and shook with each of us. After they stepped back, I couldn’t help but wonder why their grip was so strong, especially with looking so tired and worn out.
“We’ve been through a hell of a lot since the world turned inside out, but that was some of the smartest and quickest thinking we’ve seen in a long while,” Earl half smiled. “And let me add, we’re deeply sorry for what happened to your friends, it appears they gave their lives to save us and for that we’re eternally grateful. If there’s anything we can do for ya’ll, anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Actually, since we’re still alive, I have a few questions that I wouldn’t mind answered,” I said while I unpacked my soaking bag looking for something dry to start a fire, trying hard to ignore the fact that Jax was gone and never coming back. It was all I could do to hold back my tears from flowing freely.
“Shoot,” said Dillon winking.
“OK, where exactly were you two coming from again and why were you heading west?” I asked as I flopped my wet back pack over in the dirt than sat on it frustratingly having not found anything remotely dry. Staring at the brothers quizzically, listening to their story, my mind maintained they were legit but my body was telling me something totally different. I was apparently still in some sort of warning mode as weird static tingles radiated in my fingers and toes. Either that or my body was in shock or possibly in a state of high anxiety. It’s totally possible I’m still on edge from the scare. I thought, trying to reassure myself that the two men were OK, and it was I that was messed up physically and mentally for the moment.
Dillon stayed silent then looked to his younger brother and nodded. “I’m going to tell them everything; they need to know what they’re up against if they want to survive.”
Earl nodded.
“Kids, you’ve found the survivors you were looking for. We may well be the last two humans from the east camps.”
My heart sank. It was bad enough I’d lost my future boyfriend, and his two friends. But to also discover that all the east heading humans were now dead was a bit more than I could handle and I felt a choking sensation in my throat as my eyes began to tear up. Quickly I wiped my face pretending to clean off dirt and looked down, not wanting to exposes my weak emotions to complete strangers. I still had to stay strong and appear confident in front of everyone; especially my brothers and sisters if I wanted all of us to make it through this world alive.
“Yah see . . . when the meteorites started crashing into the earth it was mass confusion all over and the stench of death was everywhere. Still, some of us lucky ones made it through but those of us that did
survive the worst of the storms now had to find a way to live with limited food and supplies.” Dillon started.” Thankfully a small band of military folk took over and brought a sense of order to our group of survivors in the east, but even that was short lived. People slowly began disappearing. At first we thought they were running away in the night to find their own food and shelter or join up with a different group, but then we saw them. Those disgusting undead freaks of nature! Vampires.”
“How many did you see?” Ethan asked nervously, his young eyes filled with worry.
“Too many to fight that’s for sure. They were snatching us up like pigs in a pen. We were ripe for the picking night after night and it felt like there were giant targets plastered on our back so we had to do something. Finally we decided to divide into smaller groups and go in different directions, hoping at least one of our bunches would endure the nightly attacks. The two of us were put with those heading west. There were over a hundred of us in the start and things were looking better. No attacks for about a week but then we were hit hard by a hungry wolf pack. . . We managed to kill a couple of the beasts but they took down too many of us and again we were scattered into even smaller groupings in the chaos, running for our lives in every direction.
“Seventeen of us were still together when we made it to this lake on the east side but in the black of the night the vampires came for us yet again. It happened so fast this time with so many of them that I still don’t know how Earl and I managed to escape. Thank God we did though, and thank all of you for caring for a couple of haggard looking strangers who were in desperate need of help.”