B008IFNJZM EBOK (52 page)

             
Carl and Elizabeth went to the front door after the call from Margaret.  Carl peaked out the metal double doors.  It was Tierra.  She pulled up directly in front of the main entrance.  Carl looked at his watch as Elizabeth leaned against the wall with a shotgun.

             
“It’s four thirty, what is she doing here?  She doesn’t start work for another two hours.”

             
Carl closed the doors

             
“Send her away.”

             
Tierra ran up to the front door and began pounding on it.

             
“Let me in!  I know you are awake in there!”

             
“She could be one of them and this could be a trap to draw us out.”

             
“No, she can’t be one of them.”

             
As Carl looked at Elizabeth trying to decide whether or not to open the door, a voice came from the other side.

             
“I’m one of them!  I am here to warn you.  I mean you no harm.”

             
Carl looked at Elizabeth.

             
“My bad… I was wrong.”

             
“Ask Doctor Elizabeth Hart… She knows my grandfather.”

             
That comment puzzled Carl.

             
Elizabeth shook her head as if to say that she had no idea what the voice on the other side of the door was talking about.

             
“She knows my grandfather.  His name is Henry… Henry Mackay.”

             
“Mackay?  That is the name of the old man in Corydon that committed suicide.”
             
The voice heard Elizabeth recall the name of her grandfather.

             
“Yes and I want  them all dead for what they did  to him and me even if it means I die in the process!  Hell, at the next full moon I will become one of them too!”

             
Elizabeth looked at Carl.

             
“Let her in.”

             
Carl opened the front door.

             
She reached for Carl’s hand.

             
“Come I have something to show you!”

             
Elizabeth nodded as Carl walked outside with the doctor covering him.

             
Tierra went to the car and opened the trunk.

             
“Come here!  You will need me and this.”

             
Carl kept scanning the area and went over to the trunk and looked in.  There was a pair of 44 magnum pistols in an open case and a huge box of ammunition next to it.

             
“Here take these.  You can defend yourselves with this.  They will be here at first light.”

             
Carl was not impressed.

             
“Bullets won’t stop these things.”

             
Tierra smiled.

             
“These will.  These bullets are incendiary projectiles loaded with napalm.  When they hit something they ignite and burn a hole clean through their intended target.  My grandfather made them.  He was a gunsmith.  Please, we don’t have much time.  Help me to get these inside.”

             
Carl put his weapon in his belt and picked up the case of cartridges.  Tierra took the two pistols and closed the trunk and followed him up the steps.  Elizabeth locked the door as soon as the pair came through and they went into the study.

             
Elizabeth looked at the young woman.

             
“They turned you too?”

             
“No my grandfather turned me.  That is why he felt so bad that he killed himself.  They always go after the ones they love first.  He made these and he was going to take them all on by himself but then I showed up after he had already found the pack at the Hoosier National Park.”

             
Tierra was busy loading the pair of pistols.

             
“He had no memory of attacking me.  Once he saw the mark of the beast on me, I guess it was too much for him.  He told me what it meant and I left crying and he… well you know the rest.”

             
Carl picked up one of the loaded pistols.

             
“So if one of them is hit in the head or the chest…”

             
“The heart or the brain will be fried and they will not recover or regenerate.”

             
“And your grandfather made these?”

             
“He was a gunsmith.  One day a pair came in his shop and wanted him to build a weapon that would kill werewolves or vampires.  They told him how to make such a weapon.  They were young and when my grandfather looked at all the money on the table he must have thought the pair were crazy.  He refused and told them to keep their money so they changed him.  I guess they thought that it would convince my grandfather to build weapons like these.   They were right, it did.  Now, we can use them on us.”

             
Tierra handed a single bullet to Elizabeth.

             
“If we kill them all I want you to use this on me but until I know that they are all dead.  I can’t leave knowing that in just seven days, I will be one of those I hate the most.”

             
Elizabeth came up to the young woman and put her arms around her.

             
“Honey, if we make it through this there is something you need to know.  There is hope.”

             
“What do you mean?”

             
Elizabeth told her the story of her brother and the cure they had found.  For the first time in a long time, Tierra actually thought there was a way out of the curse.  Carl came back from the front door.

             
“I think your brother and Iolana are coming down the drive.”

             
The women followed Carl back to the front door and looked out.  The car’s front was smashed and only one head light worked.  As the vehicle came closer, they could see the damaged trailer.  They pulled up to just past Tierra’s car and ran up the steps.

             
“They are right behind us.  We could not go fast getting here because of the damage to the car and the trailer.”

             
Tierra smiled.

             
“I know I passed you on 64. Not to worry, they pulled off and went into a diner.  They are waiting for sunrise.”

             
“What are you doing here?”

             
Tom was informed on Tierra’s situation as Elizabeth kept watching the door.

             
“Is it true?  You were cured?”

             
“Yes and if you stick with us, you will be too.”

             
Tom looked at Carl.

             
“Have you heard from Crosley?”

             
“No, but he is on that motorbike…”

             
“Was your friend traveling with a woman?”

             
“Yes.”

             
“I passed them too.”

             
“Where were you?”

             
“I was at the camp… Is she a vampire?”

             
Carl answered.

             
“Yes she is and so is the one on the back of the motorbike.”

             
Tierra looked at Carl and smiled.

             
“Casket salespersons… I actually believed that.”

             
Tom looked at Iolana.

             
“Follow the plan and turn in now.”

             
“But I can stay up a little longer the sun isn’t…”

             
‘Please do as I ask… We will be fine now that we have these two pistols.”

             
“Yes and we will have a third as soon as Crosley arrives.”

             
Iolana kissed Tom.

             
“Be careful my love.”

             
She left the others.  Tierra was pleasantly surprised that she was not the way the werewolves described such creatures of the night.

             
“Just how exactly do you know they are coming here?”

             
“I was at their camp when all hell broke loose.  I heard them talking and planning.”

             
“What were you doing there?”

             
“I was planning a suicide attack with these pistols.  At the time I figured the worst thing they could do to me was kill me.   I already thought I was dead anyway…  Then you and their friends made me realize my odd of getting them all was to join up with you.  I waited and left after everyone cleared out.  I was hoping they would have left a few behind for me to kill but no one stayed.  They are all on their way here.”

             
“How many are there?”

             
“How many did you kill?”

             
“Two.”

             
“Then we will be facing a ‘baker’s dozen’… thirteen males.”

             
Suddenly they heard a ‘ring-a-ding’ sound coming up the drive.  It was Crosley and Chelsea.  Everyone felt relieved that they had made it back.

             
Crosley and Chelsea dropped the bike and ran into the house as Carl covered them and opened the door.

             
“Why aren’t they here yet?”

             
Tierra peered out with one of the pistols in hand.

             
“They stopped for breakfast and to wait for sunrise.”

             
Crosley looked at Chelsea.

             
“You must go and turn in for the day.  Don’t worry, we will be alright.”

             
“I love you.”

             
“And I love you, now hurry and don’t worry.”

             
Carl turned to the others.

             
“Cover me.”

             
“What are you doing?”

             
“I’m going to move the vehicles away from the front entrance.  I don’t want to give our attackers any cover that close to the front door.”

             
Tierra threw him her keys to her car.

             
Carl went out and moved all the vehicles far away and alongside the garage.  He came back in without seeing any of the attackers yet.  The sun was breaking over the horizon.

             
“Any second now…”

             
Elizabeth gave Crosley a double barrel shot gun and then handed him several shells.

             
“This won’t stop them.”

             
“Yes it will.  They are incendiary shredder shells.  Hit them in the chest and it will burn right through them.  The heart won’t survive and neither will it.”

             
Crosley was being updated on Tierra’s history when a large white RV pulled in and stopped at the far side of the lawn by the trees and pulled on to the far end of the lawn.  A man got out with no shoes wearing shorts.

             
“That’s Eric.  He is their leader.”

             
Two more men came out of the RV carrying yard long metal poles.

             
“Pry bars for the doors?”

             
“Maybe…”

             
Another vehicle came out from the trees and pulled up next to the RV.  It was the six wheel long bed truck.  Several more came out with pistols and went over to Eric.  It appeared Eric was giving them instructions as he continued to point up at the mansion.  An old Ford Taurus pulled in along with a jeep.  The two in the Taurus and the pair in the jeep didn’t get out.