Outside Hell (22 page)

Sorchek responded to the
death threat and
started riding the beast beneath him like it was an
untrained stallion with a sadistic mind of its own. He’d swerved to
the left and then to the right, and kept doing it to make it
impossible to get a clear shot on him.

Meanwhile the
bird above him was being thrown around like a rag doll with the
heavy blizzard and a couple times the pilots had to pull up as the
terrain had rapidly climbed towards them.

Also inside the
chopper the feeling was of pure rage towards the vampire, and
because of it, all of them wanted him dead.

Still zig
zagging though with bullets raining down all around him and with
his throttle twisted as far back as the thing would go, he’d
suddenly deep concerns brewing that soon they’d get him. He knew
that time would see them getting a few shots on target and then
when they did he’d be done for.

All the while the ice beneath the snowmobile
was exploding and bursting upwards, reflecting the light from the
stars and the moon above.

“Hold it steady.” One of
the soldiers
had
screamed, but then a moment
past and Sorchek had
seen something and whilst sniggering he’d
veered off hard to the left, and vanished over
the side of a precipice that was masked with dense
s
leet
and fog.

The pilots in response then looked
down at the instruments panel
and
read the
altitude reading
. It
said
in small white numbers that were
slowly rolling over themselves,
that they
were still several thousand feet up from the villages below.
They’
d
realized then that where the vampire had gone, and even
though
they couldn’t see
him
through the thick fog and mist
that was covering
the entrance
to it
,
and
because they were
still high up, that
it had to be the
beginning of a steep slope leading down the
mountainside.

The pilots as the soldiers
were screaming
for them
to follow him
were unsure though
whether it was safe
, and
then for extremely
precious and valuable teasing seconds they’d
held back
. They’d simply
pointed
their
cannons
down
and
blindly hoped by
firing
thousands of rounds
into the mist that
they’d get him. Only the soldiers in the back weren’t feeling good
by hanging on those precious seconds and they’d screamed for them
to follow the vampire. Then one of them realizing that the pilots
hadn’t the balls to chance it, suddenly
leapt
into the cockpit and thrust
the control stick forwards sending
the heavy old military chopper
into a
savage
nose dive over the side of the
precipice.

Sorchek couldn’t see much
in front of himself either
and every second he was desperately fighting both
extreme gravity and strong winds to bring his mechanical steed to
bare, whilst avoiding huge icy boulders that were playing a sick
game of hide and seek with him, in the zero visibility
conditions.

He’d known
that
going over the edge of the precipice was
dangerous
and that it would also mean there was no chance of using
his wings either,
but still it was the
only way to loose the chopper above him. He’
d known
there was no way the
chopper would dare follow
,
and
if he could make it down to the lower slopes In one piece, then
when he’d reached them he’d park the beast in the evergreens, and
fly off from there. Only t
he vampire had
been wrong though, and
after he’d jumped off the side of the precipice
heading down the seriously dangerous mountain slope, and
when he’d heard the huge rotors
again drumming in
his ears
and
felt
the
freezing
cold sleet and
snow blasting past him
caused by the downdraft from the blades, his heart had skipped a
thousand beats.
The vampire
had
had
the throttle tamed back when he was thinking that
he was in the clear, making it easier to navigate the huge
boulders. Only as he’d shit himself he’d responded and wacked it
wide open again. The snowmobiles engine had growled as the power
had climbed up to the max again, and with the speed that he was
travelling the 1100cc beast was screaming from being airborne most
off the way down the slope too.

Ice and rocks were smashing
heavily against the underneath of his mechanic
steed
,
and he’d swore there was no way
to escape
.
T
hen suddenly
just as the chopper was almost upon
him,
there was a huge explosion
from behind
that had lit up the mountain, making the snow and
ice all
around him
turn yellow with its
devastatingly huge
ultra garish
flash.

Sorchek as he’d then tried in vain to slow his speed had
known that they’d crashed, and in response to it
a
devilishly
wide grin like a
possessed Cheshire cat
had
blasted across his
face
.

The chopper
with its back seat
soldier driver
had
nosedived at the wrong angle
and just clipped the skids against the rocks. Then in response to
the massive impact, the old military bird had somersaulted over on
it’s back and with the rotors smashing themselves into lethal
chunks, the thing had exploded half full with fuel and C4,
killing everyone and its cargo too.

Only and as if time had frozen as the wide Cheshire Cat
grin had appeared on his face, then with it restarting
the chunks of the main rotors
had
rained down on the vampire like
massive
archaic swords, whirring
and screaming
through the
blizzard
. They’d spun around a
million times and then smacked into the snow and ice all around
him. The vampire
though who was
desperate to avoid
being cut in half
by them
,
suddenly
swerved and although he’d escaped being hit, the snowmobiles
steering
had
bedded into something hard
underneath and flipped. The
half a tonne stead of plastic and steel with him
aboard was thrown violently face first down the mountain. Only as
he’d no visibility past ten feet, and with the speed that he was
hurtled forwards
,
he’d no time to protect himself when
a boulder came into view.

Sorchek saw stars and for a
moment he’d felt like a bird, free to fly wherever he’d wanted and
maybe even
stop the killings of the innocent and
migrate to a warmer climate. Then
as
he was
sailing through the air with time froze
n
for
him
the
second time that day
,
suddenly
reality
and the gravity of the situation
hit him like a steam train going through his brain.
Only as he’d hit
the slope
face first
none of that
mattered
,
because now he was in deep shit.
Then after about three minutes of uncontrollable
smashing into things and
having his
arm
twisted up high
behind his neck
with his leg almost ripped out from its socket, he’d head
butted a boulder.
The
n after he was knocked out, his
lifeless body had continued for an undisclosed time down the
mountain until the second boulder, and bigger than the first had
stopped him.
The
impact
had
caught him broadside in the ribs
,
and
then from it
instantly a
huge
mouthful of
blood
had
sprayed up
and
out of his lips,
that
landed in in the
snow
about
his unconscious head
.

The snowmobile had
tried racing him
and even though he’d stopped, the heavy steed that was almost
laughing at him for loosing the race then left him laying for dead
and
continued to roll and bounce violently
down the mountain
slope
. The 1100cc machine that had
been in almost new condition before he’d stolen it, was now
simply taking
itself to pieces
as it gained
unbelievable
speed
s, like it was planning on selling them on EBAY.
It had flipped
and somersaulted
vehemently
,
smashing into more boulders before a second had past and then it
had vanished, disappearing into the murky mist and
beyond.

*****

Back up at the blast site where the shack had been, the
bowman after firing the arrow into the chopper, was
standing there chest deep in snow. Then
as
he’d slung his
weapon of death over his shoulder,
he’
d
started look
ing
about himself for
any
signs of
Regina.

The blast from the shack
had cleared a huge amount of snow
that the blizzard with more snow was
desperately burgeoning to replace. The ground around the crater
that had been cleared of any trace of snow, was already knee deep
in the the arctic stuff again.

Then as Dracus had looked about himself in the foreboding
place, h
e’d
absolutely
no
idea where she was
. Only
and to find her,
he’d
placed his fingers against his temple but
instantly realized that the signal from the Scareb bracelet he’d
felt calling to him whilst he’d been fighting Rex’s
warriors
,
was
gone. There was nothing calling to him
from this place at all. No signs of her either, except the
demolished building that she might have been in
. Then as a second had past the
bowman who was musing over her disappearance had slowly turned and
then whilst he’d looked out into the harsh blizzard in the
direction that he’d seen the choppers going in, he’d wondered if
Kaine and Regina had been in it.

Closing his eyes he’d
breathed in deeply
,
and then with it
he’
d
conjured a swirling mist in his mind. Then as it
had cleared, he’d been able to see the silhouette of the chopper as
it was flying away from him.
Only and at the same time the pine trees all
around him had visitors and they were from hell. The shadows were
moving and from them, suddenly even more sinister shapes had
appeared that coalesced together, taking the three dimensional
shape of demons. Only and with his mind still in deep thought he’d
not seen them, and then as they’d rapidly approached him they’d
started screaming.

Then as Dracus had looked and
seen
their dark
ominous shapes
flying across the
snow towards him,
and without a second to spare
he’d
leapt
out of
the deep snow
that he was standing in and ran full charge through the
blast area, desperately trying to escape them.

Laouse walked down the long
concrete passageway that led out to the entrance of his secret lab
underneath Kölnbrein
Dam in Austria. The
ceiling was slightly arched and either side of him apart from the
pure concrete that was all around him, there were low wattage lamps
at head height spaced twenty feet apart, that were hidden behind
yellow plastic covers.

As he’d reached the end of the passageway
that had a strange dull echo and was bordering on half a mile in
length, the Austrian vampire clasped his hands around the heavy
steel spin handle that was on the door in front of him. Then as
he’d started to crank it around to the left, the mechanism had a
metallic, metal against metal grinding sound every time he’d forced
the handle around to the left.

Then after three complete turns, he’d finally
pushed hard and the round doorway that was like a submarines
entrance, swung out on its massive hinges and opened to the right.
As the cold and somewhat refreshing air came in, the light from the
stars above that was reflecting off the waters in the stream some
hundreds of feet below him, also came in and gently lit up the
first few feet inside the tunnels entrance.