Vampire Apocalypse: Fallout (Book 3) (37 page)

“No, no,” he heard Atkins shout
over the gunfire. “You’ll hit the…”

Harris rushed out from the cover
just in time to see the scientist slump forward and fall to the
ground. He poured fire at the thralls and saw two of them clutch at
wounds and howl with pain. Harris rolled toward Atkins and caught a
brief glimpse of the vampires ignoring the bullets as they calmly
approached the thralls. Bullets slammed into them but they pushed
though and swiped at the thralls with their vicious claws. The
smell of blood filled the small room and the red light cast an
eerie blood-hued glow on the whole scene like something from hell.
Suddenly a klaxon screeched into life and more steam began to
emerge from other points where bullets had lodged in the piping. It
was like a mad Hammer movie with mist swirling around them all. But
this mist was caused by escaping steam that was better served
cooling the plant’s core.

Harris put three bullets into
one of the vampires and rushed toward Atkins. He had to see if the
scientist could pull the core back form the brink…or was it already
too late? He was too occupied to notice that the gunfire had
stopped.

Carter watched in horror as his
men were torn apart by the vampires. They were unstoppable.
Suddenly two of his men were hit by bullets from the human’s weapon
and they went down screaming. He frowned. He had seen his thralls
take far worse hits that that and still laugh it off. And then it
hit him.

I have to get that weapon.

Von Kruger watched the carnage
around him and savoured the rich scent of blood in the air. He let
his brood handle the thralls as he sought out the human. He saw the
human roll from cover and shoot at one of his brood. Suddenly the
vampire stopped and began to clutch at itself. A cry ripped from
its throat as it began to tear at its flesh in great chunks as it
tried to rip the bullets form its body.

Von Kruger ignored the vampire.
He had to disarm that human. He was the only real threat here.

Harris rolled Atkins over and
saw the blood pumping from chest. It was too late. Around him the
red light was joined by a screeching wail that grated on his
nerves. Pressured steam gushed from pipes that had been damaged by
stray bullets and the room began to fill with steam.

“It’s too late,” Atkins managed
to speak before he coughed up blood. “It was already too late
before we got here. There isn’t much…”

Atkins died in his arms and
Harris cursed the stupidity of the situation. They could all have
made it back to the Cave by now if he hadn’t forced them to come
back. Atkins would even now be holding his son in his arms. If only
he hadn’t…

Suddenly Harris was grabbed from
behind and was thrown across the room. He hit the wall hard and
fell to the floor. He tried to rise but he slipped on the blood on
the floor.

“Leave him!” one of the vampires
shouted as the other vampires closed in. “I will take care of this
one.”

Harris still had his weapon and
he brought it to bear on the vampire.

“No, you won’t,” he shouted as
he pulled the trigger. There was only one bullet in the chamber and
it fired true and caught the vampire high in the chest. For a
moment everybody stood looking at Von Kruger, and then the vampire
began to grind his teeth as he brought his hand to his chest in a
claw. He drove his hand deep into the flesh, closed it, and then
pulled a chunk of flesh from its body. He never uttered a sound all
the while, and Harris felt true fear as the vampire dropped the
flesh and the bullet to the floor.

He felt a hand slap his shoulder
and he felt himself being pulled to his feet.

“Quick, I have a helicopter.
Move.”

Harris looked at Carter with
confusion, but there was no point in staying here. He followed the
thrall out the door and into the rain.

Carter grabbed at the human and
made sure he was following. He had only wanted the human’s weapon,
but, with no bullets in the weapon, it was now useless. His only
hope now was to make the human tell him the secret of the bullets.
He didn’t know if the helicopter could out-fly the vampires, but he
wasn’t going to stay here and be torn apart. The image of Von
Kruger ripping his own flesh was still fresh in his mind and he
shuddered. What kind of creature can do that without uttering a
sound? Just what am I dealing with?

Von Kruger stood and let the
pain wash over him. The pain from the bullet had seared through him
with an intensity he had never felt before. Even the act of ripping
his own flesh had not hurt as much as that initial penetration,
though it had been close.

He longed to race after the
human and tear him apart for causing him such pain, but he could
not move. It had taken everything he had not to cry out and he
could tell that his brood were in awe of him. That was good. He
would need their devotion if he was to wipe out these humans. He
looked around the room. The red light was distracting and the
howling of the siren was painful to his sensitive ears, but he let
it all wash over him. He had no idea what was going on but it did
not concern him. Only the human mattered. In a few minutes he would
again be able to move and then he would give chase.

Harris stumbled through the rain
after Carter. The wind whipped at him and the rain lashed against
his face. The storm had grown worse and the sky lit up with sparks
of lightning as the thunder threatened to deafen him. Ahead he
could barely hear the thump of the rotors. It was taking a huge
risk flying in this weather, but it was certain death to stay.
There wasn’t really a choice. He saw Carter disappear into the
helicopter and he reached out and grabbed at the door and pulled
himself after the thrall.

Once inside, the craft lifted
immediately and he was thrown to the side as the pilot struggled to
keep control. He began to struggle into a seat opposite Carter when
the thrall grabbed him by the collar and a knife suddenly appeared
at his throat.

“The bullets,” he shouted over
the straining engine. “What are they? Why do they do so much
damage?

There was no point in trying to
struggle against the thrall. He was far stronger, so Harris
pretended that he couldn’t hear while he tried to see if there was
anything he could use as a weapon within reach. He couldn’t see
anything. Carter repeated his question as he leaned further in and
Harris snapped his head forward with all his strength. Surprise was
his only hope. Pain exploded in his forehead and his head swam
dangerously as his vision suddenly went out of focus. But the
thrall let him go and brought his hands to his nose as he screamed
in frustration and pain.

The pilot shouted something but
Harris ignored him as he pressed his advantage and raked at the
thrall’s eyes. Unfortunately, the helicopter swung violently
against a sudden gust and his hands merely grazed the thrall’s
cheek. Then Carter was on him again with a wildness that seemed to
glaze his eyes.

The helicopter bucked again as
it was carried helplessly on another gust, and Carter was sent
sprawling across the small area. Harris kicked out but missed, and
his foot crashed painfully into a fire extinguisher on the back
wall. The extinguisher flew out of sight and then Carter was back
on top of him, his fists pummelling relentlessly.

Harris felt blackness crawl
slowly over him. He prayed for unconsciousness to take him. At
least then the pain would stop. But it didn’t stop. It went on and
on until Carter heaved breathlessly above him. He couldn’t see the
thrall anymore, his eyes were too swollen for that, but he could
hear him. Even over the screeching of the engine he could hear the
wheezing of the thrall as he tried to regain control of his
anger.

“Bastard,” he heard the thrall
curse. “You will tell me what I want to know eventually,” he
screamed at him and Harris tried to feign unconsciousness but
couldn’t help groaning in pain and the thrall was not fooled.

“Where do I get those weapons
you use?” Carter screamed at him and Harris felt another blow as
the thrall struck him again.

Suddenly he heard the thrall
grunt in pain and the pressure on his throat abruptly disappeared.
He forced his eyes open and saw a dark shape pull itself inside the
cab of the helicopter. The figure was drenched and there was little
light in the helicopter so Harris had to squint to try and see more
clearly. Lightning suddenly cut through the dark clouds outside
and, for a moment, light burst into the small compartment.
Warkowski. How the fuck did he get here?
Harris watched the
big man pull himself forward and bring his massive arm down on
Carter. The thrall was slammed against the far wall and Harris took
another moment to catch his breath as Warkowski threw himself after
the thrall.

“Just can’t obey orders, can
you?” Harris muttered as he pulled himself forward to help
Warkowski.

Von Kruger pushed hard against
the wind. His muscles strained against the force of the storm and
around him his brood gathered to give chase. They had easily taken
care of the thralls in the plant but he had to find that human with
the bullets that caused so much damage. His shoulder throbbed in
pain as a reminder of the power of this new weapon. With any normal
wound he would have already healed at this stage, but the area
where he had torn his flesh from his body had not even begun to
heal. At some level he knew now that it probably never would and
the pain in his shoulder would remain with him to remind him never
to underestimate the humans again.

He concentrated on the horizon
in front of him. The thrall and the human were a long way ahead,
but he knew where they were going so the distance was unimportant.
He would catch up with them before the dawn came. He would discover
the secret of this new weapon and then the territory would be his.
With such a weapon there was no limit to what he could achieve. He
fought against the pain and urged his brood on.

Carter had already recovered
enough to stop Warkowski’s momentum by swiping blindly at him and
he caught the big man a glancing blow to his shoulder. The thrall
was so strong that Warkowski was sent perilously close to the open
doorway. He tried to pull himself back but his arm was caught
inside a strap and he wasted precious seconds trying to free
himself. Shouting in victory, Carter pressed his advantage and
launched himself at the struggling man.

Harris threw himself between the
two figures and caught the thrall with his shoulder, sending Carter
tumbling against the pilot’s seat and sending the helicopter into a
dangerous lurch. The three figures were tossed around the small
space, and then the night suddenly erupted in bright light
again.

At first Harris thought it was
more lightning, but the roar that followed it was not thunder. The
light remained bright far longer than lightning could possibly
manage, and Harris felt his heart sink as the helicopter was caught
up in the blast wave and was thrown forward at a ferocious
speed.

Too late!
He thought
before the darkness swept up and pulled him down.

The sky suddenly lit up with a
weird, sickly glow that felt unclean to Von Kruger. Beside him one
of his vampires suddenly stopped flying and screeched in pain. An
intense, white flame surged through the air, sucking his breath
from him. The vampires around him all began to scream. He looked
around him as their flesh began to melt away from their bones.

A roar filled his ears and
threatened to make him deaf. But over it all he could still hear
his brood screaming as their flesh was seared from their bodies. He
felt himself fall and his own flesh began to burn as he was
enveloped by the flames that gushed up toward him. These were not
normal flames, though. There was something unclean about them.
Something that rotted his flesh even before the flames seared it.
The pain was incredible. His body tried to heal but the radiation
was too strong and the flames too hot, too intense. The flesh where
the strange flame seared did not heal, instead the flesh blackened
and began to rot.

He had lived for centuries, but
it still had not been enough time to achieve all he had wanted. He
clung to life, preferring the agony of the moment to the unfeeling
void of death. His eyes burst in the flames and his flesh began to
fall away and still he fought against the flames.

And then a strange thing
happened. His body stopped trying to heal the damage. It stopped
trying to combat the effects of the radiation and began to work
with it instead. It adapted, changed, mutated. It felt wrong,
corrupt, even more so that his current existence, but it was life
and he clung to it. The pain continued as he fell towards the
ground below. He was dimly aware of the growing heat but his senses
had shut down from the overload. He fell further and changed as he
fell.

Sandra Harrington heard the
rumble and looked out through the darkness. The distant horizon
glowed with a dull red glow that seemed to shimmer for a moment and
then began to fade until all that remained was a faint
afterglow.

Her heart began to beat faster.
What time is it? Is it dawn? Is that east or west?
Thoughts
tumbled through her mind as she tried to find an explanation, any
explanation that did not confirm the sudden dread that was
beginning to dawn on her.

She felt a hand in hers and she
jumped as she turned to see who had come up to her. She blinked a
few times before her mind recognised the petite features of April’s
face in the gloom.

“It’s probably a false dawn,”
she began as a tear escaped from her left eye and began its
solitary journey down her cheek.