The Adventure of the Peril Gem
Page 15
ready to fire, but deflected them when they saw it was Holt. He had an L7A2 general purpose machine gun, with a belt feeding into it from a pack on his back.
"Geezus, Giles!" Eile hissed as he lowered his weapon.
"Are we glad to see you!" Sunny squealed.
He jogged up to them.
"Where's Differel?" Eile asked.
"Securing the shelter; she ordered me to fetch Master Henry."
"Then let's get him!" Sunny quipped.
Holt nodded. "I'll take point." He moved ahead and they followed him around the wall. The hall at that end terminated in an alcove that gave access to Differel's rooms, the children's bedroom, and the nurse's room, as well as another entrance into the library.
"I'll wait out here," Holt said, "while you two--"
The doors the nurse's room and the library crashed open as dozens of the creatures streamed through, screaming a multitonal chorus.
Holt opened up on them, spraying 7.62mm bullets across the alcove.
"They must be coming up the secret stairwell!" Sunny screeched.
"Go in through the boudoir!" Holt shouted.
"Come on!" Sunny pulled on Eile's arm. They ran for the glass door behind them that led out into the west loggia, went a few feet, and then opened the glass door into Differel's study. Two doors sat in the opposite corner, one exiting into the hall, the other giving access to Henry's bedroom. They dashed for the latter, throwing themselves against the wall beside it. Eile turned the knob; finding it unlocked, she pushed the door open but stayed out of the threshold.
A shot rang out and hit the wall on the opposite side of the study.
"Henry, it's us!" she shouted.
"Aunt Eile!" Henry cried. "Aunt Sunny! They're breaking in!"
They turned into the doorway. Henry stood on the near side of his bed, holding the L117A2 compact pistol Differel had given him.
Sunny waved her arms at him. "Come on!"
He ran over to her just as shrieking monsters smashed open the doors to the nurse's room and bathroom.
"Move!" Eile switched to full automatic as Sunny grabbed Henry's hand. They ran for the glass door as Eile fired off short bursts and retreated after them. She hesitated in the loggia, firing into the boudoir, until Sunny and Henry disappeared back into the hall, then she ran after them.
Holt still held off the creatures in the alcove. "Go! I'll cover you!"
"We've got incoming!" Eile fired into the loggia as the creatures shattered the glass door.
"Understood!" He started to retreat, and Eile moved beside him. They skipped backwards as the creatures converged from multiple directions. He kept up a withering field of fire as she shot at targets of opportunity, but then her rifle quit.
"Shit! Outta ammo!"
"It's too open here!" Holt said. "Head for the stairwell; we can contain them there!"
Eile dropped back to where Sunny and Henry waited by the spiral stone staircase, expelling her magazine.
"Gimme!"
Sunny pulled a STANAG out of the bag and passed it to her.
"Henry," she said as she shoved the magazine into place, "you stick with Sunny no matter what! Hear me?"
He nodded as he and Sunny clasped their free hands.
Eile cocked the rifle and started down the stone steps. Behind her she heard Sunny: "We're leaving, Gurney-Man!"
"I'll be right behind you!" he replied. Eile just concentrated on the way ahead. The stairs turned counterclockwise, so the defenders would have a clearer field of fire, and Differel had room to use a sword if she wanted.
Eile descended as fast as she dared, not wanting to outpace the others, or run headlong into a pack of monsters. Behind her she could hear Holt firing sporadically to keep the monsters from overrunning them.
When they reached the second story she paused long enough to quickly scan the corridor to make sure it was clear. There were no creatures, and she continued on. As she approached the ground floor, she heard footsteps coming up the stairs towards them. She signaled for Sunny to stop and went a few steps further onto the landing, sighting just to the right of the central column.
Differel sprinted into view. She stopped immediately, crouched, and raised her pistol, but she and Eile both relaxed when they recognized each other.
"Geezus, Differel."
The aristocrat joined her. "Where's Henry?"
"Right here, Mother!" He and Sunny came around the bend from above.
"Holt's behind us," Eile reported, "along with about a gazmillion screamin' monsters."
Differel nodded. "I can hear them. We'll get out through the great hall." She started to step out of the stairwell.
Eile grabbed her by the elbow. "What about the shelter?"
Differel shook loose. "It's been overrun." And she went out into the family passage. Eile exchanged glances with Sunny, and she could see her partner didn't like the sound of that either.
Eile followed the blue-blood into the passage, as Sunny shouted back, "We're getting off here, Gurney-Man!" As she passed it, she glanced at the security gate that closed off the entrance to the administrative wing. It looked to be intact, and more importantly there were no monsters behind it trying to break through.
She found Differel looking through the glass door that led out into the north portico. As she passed a window, she saw the garden beyond was flooded with monsters. A band of house guards had set up three machine gun nests supported by riflemen just inside the pillars, and they fired into the horde as it swarmed up the porch, patio, and terrace.
"This isn't a raid," Differel muttered as Eile felt butterflies dive-bomb her gut, "it's an incursion."
"Where's Dracula?" She expected to see him down there in the thick of it, shooting creatures and ripping them apart.
Differel didn't respond at first, and when she did her voice sounded uncharacteristic in its softness. "Vlad has been destroyed."
Her words seemed so simple and spoken in such a subdued tone that she might have missed them. Instead, they sent a jolt through her body. "How?!"
"They must have come in through the secret tunnel from the motte-and-bailey. There were too many of them, we couldn't hold the shelter. Vlad confronted them so I could get away. The last I saw of him he was overwhelmed and being torn to pieces." She spared Eile a momentary glance of despair. "He never had a chance."
"Holy Jesus God!" She turned to look at Sunny. Her face had twisted into a look of anguish and beside her Henry sniffled and rubbed at his eyes.
Differel recovered her composure. "We have no time for this! We need to get to Command and Control." She brushed past them and approached Holt.
"We can't get through this way!" he said as he fired off short bursts. The monsters were flowing out of the stairwell and bunching up at the end of the passage, trapped against the gate.
"Then we'll go through the great hall and the gallery. That's more direct anyways. Cover us."
"Go. I'll stay here and hold them as long as I can."
She put a hand on his shoulder, a distraught look on her face. Having lost Dracula, Eile figured she wasn't eager to loose another close friend. "That isn't necessary! We can all get out of this if we stick together."
"There's no other choice. We can't waste any time. We must wipe them out before they break free of the estate and scatter across the countryside."
"Giles..." Her voice broke.
"I'll buy you the time you need. It has to be done. Remember: we hold the line, and this line will not be crossed. Now, move it, you little wildcat!"
For a moment, Eile thought she would grip his coat and pull him backward with her, but instead she balled the hand into a fist and pounded his shoulder twice. Then she turned and came back up the passage without a word. But Eile saw tears trickling down her cheek.
Coming in March.
From "We Deliver"
It is a curious biological event, but whenever someone enrolls at a university, metabolic changes occur within every cell, creating a nutritional need for pizza and
beer. Fortunately, most students revert to a normal biochemistry upon graduation, but some never fully recover.
Pizza is big business in Delasalle, Illinois. There are over two dozen parlors alone, and virtually every restaurant offers pizza in some form on its menu. Yet by far the most popular store is Checker's Pizza. It is a small shop, without a parlor; instead, it bases its entire business on delivery. While other establishments make deliveries as an optional service, at an extra charge, Checker's makes it a way of life, at no extra charge. The owner, Michele Horne, believes that what students want most is dependable delivery right to their door. So, she makes it standard policy to guarantee 25 minute delivery to any spot within the Delasalle or Tamarack city limits, or that order is free.
I joined Checker's as a driver after losing my teaching assistantship because of poor performance. I studied biochemistry at Keekishwa University, and I had depended on the stipend to support myself. Summer was not Checker's best season. With no dormitory students on campus, and relying solely on the permanent residents of Delasalle and Tamarack for business, Michele could afford to hire only a total of five drivers and work only three a night. Business would usually be brisk until 10:00 P.M., but afterwards she always sent one driver home and the other two filled the empty time between deliveries as best as they could.
I remember that particular Wednesday vividly. It had been Checker's busiest night so far that summer, but as usual, orders dropped off after ten. In fact, business became so slow that by eleven Michele sent the other driver home, leaving me to deliver any orders that might come in. None did, and by midnight Michele had exhausted all