A Time To Survive (Verge of Extinction): A Magical & Monstrous / Supernatural Urban Fantasy.

by J. Axbridge

  When the last team of Arthur, Caelyn and Victoria finally found a large pocket of Red Eyes and flashed the “all ready signal”, midnight was mere minutes away and we were ready to execute our plan to defeat or at least escape from the vampires.

  My heart along with Adelaide’s and the doc’s was thumping fast and loud, yet none of us dared move to avoid alerting the Red Eyes of our close proximity. For a moment deathly silence prevailed as we lay on the cold mounds of earth.

  “Are you sure they’re coming doc?” I asked, starting to doubt his information. But my doubt only lasted a moment, when we heard what could only be described as heavy rain smacking Lake Michigan and it was coming nearer by the second.

  Eerily it was the same sound I’d heard once before on the lake, but this time it was much louder, like an ovation of rasping claps as hundreds if not thousands of vampires sprinted across the water at high speed, their bare feet slapping the calm waters below them. The deafening clapping noise became thunderous before it ended abruptly and again the silent darkness took command. Although we couldn’t see them yet, we knew the vampires were on shore and close by as a strange static of evil electrified the atmosphere around us.

  “Lure the vampires into the maze. Stir the Red Eyes into the battle. Escape to the safe zone in the melee.” Adelaide said aloud over and over, as our bodies tensed with anxiety preparing for our run.

  “SYMJIN—SHOW YOURSELF AND YOU WON’T BE HARMED. I KNOW YOU’RE CLOSE, I CAN SENSE YOU, INCLUDING THE GOOD DOCTOR. IF MY FAMILY MUST COME IN AFTER YOU, YOU WILL PAINFULLY REGRET YOUR DISOBEDIENCE.”

  A vampire who I believe was their leader, bellowed into the blackness of the maze. With my enhanced ability to see in the darkness, I peered over the top of a ridge and spied a large menacing man dig his feet into the dirt and mud filled shoreline, the cool, calm waters of Lake Michigan lapping the shore only inches behind his giant frame.

  We dared not move or make a sound and wouldn’t until we knew for sure that the vampires were inside the labyrinth of death and decay. Charred and mutilated bodies mixed in with the remains of buildings and goods that once symbolized statuses both high and low covered much of the area. Many crushed within the towering walls of earth carved out from the meteoroid showers that were nearly impossible to climb due to their sharp inclines and unimaginable height. I’d never had a nightmare even come close to the scene I saw before me and all I could think of was hell.

  Adding to the utter confusion of the maze itself, we’d found there were tunnels both long and short that seemed to pop up out of nowhere. Most lead to dead ends but some unbelievably opened up to unscathed courtyards of previous life containing fully intact park benches, lawns and even a random building or home here and there. It was as if God had purposely spared these small parts of the world to remind us of the beautiful and gracious lives we once lived.

  Finally I heard approaching footsteps and knew it was time, “They’re coming Doc.,” I whispered to the good doctor who was staring into the darkness in deep thought. I’m sure he was thinking about what would happen to him if he got caught, that seemed to plague the doctor most when we’d talked earlier. Turning to Adelaide, I gently rested my hand upon her arm and nodded. I knew instantly it was a mistake, I didn’t want to let go, I didn’t want her to join this fight but I had no choice. I wanted her to be by my side so I could protect her and that meant she’d be joining me on our run down the hill into the bloody violent mess surely to erupt. Yet watching her nod back in total concentration I knew she could handle this, she was turning into a leader, a warrior and I couldn’t help but feel an even stronger attraction to her if that was even possible. An attraction that I knew was always there but until this moment, I never fully realized how strong the pull actually was. Maybe she was a werewolf after all, perhaps the book is right. Otherwise why would I feel so strongly for her? A picture of Adelaide in her undoubtedly sexy werewolf form suddenly invaded my mind and I let a small knowing grin escape before turning back to the darkness, focusing, and doing the best I could to concentrate on the looming fight.

  I tensed hearing the vampires enter our area of the maze, my every nerve on high alert and I was ready. The doctor, Adelaide and I being the closest were the first team up to try and stir a group of Red Eyes into an intentional fight with the vampires to ease our escape. Cautiously peering over an old tattered and torn ash covered brown leather sofa, we waited for just the right moment to make our move.

  “This is it! The vamps are close enough; let’s poke the bee hive.” I said before rapidly changing into a werewolf and bounding down the hill right into the thick of at least 30 unsuspecting Red Eyes. Thankfully I heard Adelaide’s and the doctor’s footsteps following closely behind. Growling, rearing my fangs and swiping my claws I easily gained the Red Eyes full inhuman attention then turned and headed straight towards the unsuspecting vampires. I don’t even believe they saw Adelaide which was my plan all along, I wanted to keep her as safe as possible. The doctor on the other hand, I didn’t really give much thought to him, he seemed strong enough to take care of himself so I took off down the alleyway.

  Upon seeing my wolf form the group of Red Eyes were filled with rage and I could sense they harbored dire revenge. Like a pack of wolf pups, they followed obediently corner after corner picking up speed in their pursuit until at last I turned a corner and ran straight into a small group of seven vampires. Surprised, the vampires and I stared at each other for a shocked moment, each shifting while waiting for the other to make the first aggressive move when the Red Eyes rounded the corner grunting, just behind me. Immediately I leaped high and far out of the way leaving the vampires faces in even more shock as they faced an on slot of vicious Red Eyes moving towards them rapidly looking for blood. Instantaneously the low grunting, deathly screeching and bloodshed began, just as planned.

  Although I wanted to stay close to ensure the vampires were indeed dying at the hands of those inhuman things, I climbed a nearby mound of carnage, transformed back to human form and watched the grisly battle unfold from a higher and safer vantage point. Unfortunately there was no sight of Adelaide or the doctor which worried me greatly.

  The vampires screeched, hissed and bit in rapid succession as the Red Eyes clawed and tore at any flesh they could get their hands or teeth on. The battle was bloody but the Red Eyes proved too much for the group of young vampires. The doctor had proven trustworthy on his word; the Red Eyes were a menace for the blood sucking creeps.

  That first battle was an easy victory for the Red Eyes, but it wasn’t over, I heard more vampires being ordered to enter the maze. In the distance I saw Mayumi run swiftly down her hill bringing another large group of Red Eyes into the thick of the maze with her, and Arthur followed suit bringing even more from his direction, successfully surrounding a group of fifty or so vampires and the first large battle began. Hearing the commotion and fighting getting louder, the head vampire ordered yet another wave of vampires to enter the battle thinking we would be overwhelmed and soon give in to the strength of his bloodsucking army.

  Instead a massive hand to hand battle raged between an ever growing number of inhuman Red Eyes and what seemed to be only hundreds of undead, soon to be totally dead, vampires. It was easy to surmise that the army of bloodsuckers weren’t prepared for such overwhelming odds and were losing too many of the newly turned. I only hoped the head vampire would be worried with humans being in such short supply these days, that his numbers would be difficult to replenish and he would retreat.

  To my surprise, as the vampires were being pushed to the brink of a crushing loss they did not give up; instead they slowly began adapting and learning how to win individual battles as the fighting raged on. Their strength seemed to be the key and soon the stronger, more agile vampires discovered they were able to twist and pull Red Eye heads right off like popping a bottle top. It was a gruesome and bloody way to win, but the technique was working.

  Even with the vampires’ new realization that they cou
ld kill Red Eyes, bodies of both kinds piled up making paths impassable. But the more the vampires’ killed, it seemed the more Red Eyes seeped into the fighting throughout the maze walls from all directions and quickly outnumbered the vampires at least ten to one. It was an inevitable loss for the blood sucking monsters, leaving their leader with no choice except to concede his defeat and return to his water headquarters as I’d initially hoped.

  “Where did all those red eyed freaks come from?” Arthur asked as he soundlessly walked up beside me. “I figured a hundred at most but it looks more like thousands.”

  “I thought the exact same thing, we really underestimated them.” I turned to Arthur to see how he was looking and seeming no worse for wear I went on, “Definitely they’re using some sort of tunnel system to get around. They’re smart Arthur and they’re definitely not mindless corpses . . . , but I wish they were because it seems they’re getting smarter by the day and that scares the shit out of me,” I continued to survey the area for any potential problems with our getaway plan. “We still need to make it out of here safely, and speaking of staying safe, have you seen Adelaide? I haven’t seen her since we ran down our hill and I’m worried.”

  “Sorry, haven’t see my sister at all, I was pretty busy you know. I thought you were keeping an eye on her Jax?” Arthur said with malice in his voice. “No worries for now though,” He relaxed his stern stance, “Addie’s smart but we need to find her in case she is in real trouble. We can’t let that giant demon down there get a hold of her.” Worry flashed in his confident eyes.

  As the Red Eyes and vampires’ deadly battle began to slow, Arthur and I decided to proceed to our prearranged safe meeting place to see if Adelaide was already there. Easily sliding out behind the fighting, we headed north only a short distance to a safe bunker we’d built earlier in the day in which we’d surrounded with dead Red Eyes to cover our scents.

  Entering into the dark bunker, at first I couldn’t make out exactly who was there. “Sound off everyone, your names!” One by one each name rang out quietly as my eyes swiftly adjusted to the small dark hideout. When Adelaide’s strong voice responded, even though I knew she was inside almost immediately, having smelled her unique wildflower scent, my heartbeat slowed and I felt my stress and anxiety drop down a notch. But then realization hit, not everyone had called out their name, Doctor Xavier, the newest member of our group was missing. I figured one of three things happened. He took his chances and decided to go out on his own, he’d met his unfortunate death or the worst possible scenario - he was captured.

  “Where’s doc? Has anyone seen the doctor? He was with me and Adelaide when the fighting started but I lost him in the melee.” No sooner did I ask when my answer came, crushing the silence of our darkened hideout.

  “SYMJIN, I HAVE YOUR NEW FRIEND, DOCTOR XAVIER. HE HAS BETRAYED ME AND WILL DIE IF YOU DO NOT COME OUT”. The angry vampire’s voice boomed like clasps of thunder in the distance.

  “I guess we know where Docky is,” Victoria somberly remarked.

  Nobody moved and none said a word, with sadness we sat in the darkness of our bunker acknowledging the possible end of the good doctor. As much as I’d wished, we could not simply walk out and try to rescue him, it would have been our death sentence as well; nevertheless I had to take a look and see for myself, for everyone, to make sure this was not a trick.

  In werewolf form I slinked close enough to see the massive vampire fuming having not received an answer from us while he held the doctor tightly around the back of his neck. Things did not look good as blood ever so slowly dripped from doc’s neck down the vamp’s long gray fingers. Seething, the vamp stood in raging silence momentarily before he became so enraged that he yanked doc’s head back and bit him violently in the neck before dropping his limp, bloodied body to the ground with a muffled thud. Unfortunately for the doctor, he did not kill him; the doctor will now feel the agonizing pain of changing from human to vampire and become part of his bloodsucking army surely seeking revenge upon us for his loses.

  Even from my distance I could clearly see the large vampire’s eyes, he understood the fight was over and that the “SymJin” as he called my friends, would not be captured this night. Reluctantly he called back what was left of his demon family and ordered them to return to their nest in the skyscraper. Those that had survived dutifully ran back over the water to their home. The head vampire turned slowly peering menacingly into the dark maze once again; his face contorted with anger as he shouted. “SYMJIN, YOU WILL ALL BE MINE. I WILL OWN YOU, YOUR MINDS, YOUR BODIES AND YOUR SOULS. I WILL DESTROY YOU! YOUR FATE AWAITES! YOU CAN NOT ESCAPE ME FOREVER!”

  Hundreds of Red Eyes now seeped out from the maze grunting, heading towards the lone vampire still on the shore. Screaming in anger he threw the doctor over his shoulder causing blood to soak through his shirt, turned and flashed off over the lake back to his nest defeated, but far from conquered.

  I raced back to the bunker as fast as possible to inform everyone of the terrible news about the doctor, but also the good news, the vampires had left and we now had our chance at escape.

  Entering the bunker I explained in rapid detail what I’d seen and heard.

  “You are correct, I also do not sense their presence on this land anymore,” Mayumi added, listening intently before feeling the ground with both hands.

  “What do we do now?” Arthur asked the one question on everyone’s mind. “Do we move out in the dark? Is that even safe? Or do we stay here for the night?”

  “We stay for the dark hours, we need rest and the Red Eyes have huge numbers out there now and are beyond furious. We don’t want to face those things tonight. That would be a death wish. But tomorrow first light we’ll head north until out of this damned city and then north/west as fast as we possibly can and leave those half dead Red Eyes and crazy oversized vamp and his family of monsters behind. We will need to move fast too, because the sooner we’re out of that vamp’s sense range he’ll have a more difficult time tracking us.”

  *****

  The next morning, tired and sore from being cramped together in our small hideout like sardines, the group of us rolled the dead Red Eyes away from the makeshift door and slid out into the maze silently, determined to make it out of the area alive today.

  Mayumi and I took turns leading the group, climbing up tall mounds of unsightly repulsive carnage and stench, searching out the land ahead before moving into any unknown territory. We made it north faster than I’d anticipated as our journey west had already started, away from the waters of Lake Michigan, away from vampires who ran on water and away from red eyed freaks and hopefully into areas of more safety.

  After two straight days of solely daylight travel and complete nighttime rest we finally made it through and past the outskirts of Chicago into the once smaller Midwestern town regions. Unfortunately they were also destroyed and mostly nonexistent because of the storms, however we felt safer. In our final northern push, we began heading towards the State of Wisconsin or whatever was left of it on our long journey to Minnesota to find the Elder Wolf.

  I prayed daily that we didn’t have another encounter with the Red Eyes or giant vampire because after all we’d gone through to get to this point, I think our group was too worn down to make it out of another life or death battle alive no matter how much our fighting and survival skills had improved on our journey.

  Chapter 38 - The Cabin in the Woods

  Jax

  Having battled and survived Red Eyes, escaping hundreds of evil vampires and finally making it through Sweet Home Chicago, the seven of us spent the next three weeks trudging through desolate destruction, vast nothingness and unimaginable carnage reeking of death and sulfur. Eventually, without any other major surprises or obstacles, we made it into the thick of the Superior National Forest in Minnesota which is what we’d be tromping through the past five days on our quest to find the Elder Wolf of our region, being lead only by the directional compass in the Werewolves Member Gui
de. It was astonishing for us to finally see living, thriving forested areas that had survived the showers, giving our group a much needed boost of hope and morale to move on. The smiles the area evoked on everyone’s faces were uplifting, but eventually the enthusiasm waned as we walked on, exhaustion taking over once more.

  “Finally, is this his place?” Adelaide panted, standing just to the right of me in her sweat soaked shirt staring at an old cabin overrun with half dead trees, shrubs and withered brown leaves as the smell of dried pine needles hung heavily in the air around us.

  “It’s defiantly a werewolf’s place of residence; see those markings on the front door,” I pointed. “The three deep scratch marks in the top right corner of the door is a symbol werewolves use to identify homes owned by them.”

  Arthur lumbered up from the back followed by Mayumi, both looking fatigued. “That’s amazing, really, but is someone going to knock?” Arthur nodded towards the cabin door.

  “Go ahead Jax; we did not hike through hell for weeks to just look at a door, knock already. I am tired and need rest and I am sure that goes for all of us.” Mayumi now tilted her head mimicking Arthur and motioned towards the front door with irritation. Their attitudes came as no surprise; all of us were on edge being extremely mentally and physically exhausted and we needed serious down time to recuperate.

  Approaching the porch cautiously, I kept my eyes on our surroundings as a mixture of leaves and twigs crunched and snapped under my feet. I knew the sounds were not that loud but the tenseness of my body told me those crunching noises were like thunder in the still silence of a watchful forest. Hesitantly I stepped on the first step checking its strength, then to the porch itself before walking the five feet between me and the weather-beaten wooden door. The faded weathered porch boards whined, straining under my weight the whole way. Reaching the front door I peered through a small 6 inch by 6 inch dust and mildew coated window but couldn’t make out much, that left me no choice but to knock to see if anyone was home.