Vampire Dancing (29 page)

“Good.”

At some point, Wendy had decided to have a peek at what was going on with Johnson. When it became apparent what Amber and Laura were doing, she couldn't help but watch, fascinated. “I've saw people like you before. In those Twilight movies.”

“Not really my kind of thing,” Amber says.

Wendy twists her beads around her finger. “Do you shimmer in the daylight? Sparkle and stuff?”

Laura folds her arms and says to Wendy: “Seriously ... fuck off.”

Just then, the door at the opposite end of the aisle opens.

Laura positions herself in front of Johnson.

“We need you in the other car,” Scott says. “This guy's a little weird.”

“Weird?” Amber says.

“Come see for yourself,” Scott replies.

And then he leaves.

Amber looks to Laura. “I wonder what he means by 'weird'?”

“You're all weird,” Wendy says.

Both women look at Wendy. She just shrugs in response.

*

Scott Joins Matthews and Powell. “Think I interrupted them in the middle of girl talk.”

“Johnson's such a fag,” Powell says.

Looking at Michael, Scott asks: “How long until reinforcements get here?”

“Won't be long,” Matthews replies. “They're not far.”

“Wouldn't it have made more sense to just send everyone straight away?”

“They reckoned the element of surprise was all we'd need. And they didn't want witnesses - or as few as possible.” Matthews looks at Michael. “But now, with this, everything's went fucked times ten.”

“His left eye's all creepy and weird,” Powell says.

“That,” Matthews says, “is why I'm taking no chances. Something's not right.”

“Can't we just shoot him in the legs?” Scott asks. “Incapacitate him?”

“Look at him,” Matthews replies. “He looks like he's jacked up on something. There's no telling what might happen if something doesn't go to plan – and I got a wife and kids I wanna see again.”

“But he's just one man,” Scott persists.

“He's one very fucking abnormal and dangerous man,” Matthews says. “Plus, he got Stiles, and that's a big enough red flag for me.”

Laura enters the car, followed by Amber. Both women approach the three men.

Matthews looks past Laura. “Where's Johnson?”

Laura stops before Matthews. “I had to kill him.” She sees Scott increase his grip on his rifle from the corner of her eye.

“I don't understand,” Matthews says. “I mean ...
why
?”

Laura shrugs. “Why not?” She reaches out and grabs Matthews by the face and Scott by the throat. With a flick of the wrist, she snaps Matthews' head to one side, killing him outright.

Overcome by alarm, Scott accidentally fires his rifle into the floor. Multiple bullets tear through one of his heavy boots. He screams and drops the weapon. Moments later, a large chunk of his throat is in Laura's hand and he's lying dead on the floor beside Matthews.

Fear roots Powell to the spot. He opens his mouth - perhaps to say something, or maybe just to scream. Before he has the chance to do either, Amber pulls him close and sinks her teeth into his throat.

Laura wipes her bloody hand on Scott's uniform. “Ugh, so filthy.”

Amber pushes Powell away from her. He falls to the floor. Blood pumps copiously from the puncture wounds on his neck.

“Aren't you going to put him out of his misery?” Laura asks.

“They were going to kill us,” Amber replies. “One of them killed Barbara. Let him bleed out.”

Laura walks over to Powell. The man is clasping his throat and coughing up blood. “I don't like to see suffering.” She crouches and takes his head in her hands - “let me help you” - then quickly snaps his neck.

Amber approaches Michael. “Michael, are you okay?” She clears the hair away from his face.

Michael blinks several times, as though he's just awoken from a trance. He stares back at Amber through familiar green eyes. “I ... what happened?”

“What's the last thing you remember?”

“Amanda ...”

Amber looks at the woman in the pink top. “Is this Amanda? Who is she? Who
was
she?”

“Someone from before,” Michael replies. “... it's not important now.”

“Someone you know? Did these men kill her?”

“No ... she just collapsed.”

“Just collapsed?”

Laura brushes past Amber. “I see you got Stiles.” She turns to Michael. “Just so you know ... he wasn't a bad man. I didn't know him very long, but he genuinely thought bringing you in was the right thing to do.”

Michael looks away. “A lot of good people are dying around me.”

“Hey, from what I see, they're the ones coming after you,” Amber says. “This isn't your fault.”

“You don't know that,” Michael replies.

“Then tell me I'm wrong.”

When Michael doesn't say anything, Amber asks: “What do you have that's so important to these people?”

“That's what I'd like to know,” Laura says. She looks down at the body of Amanda. “And what the hell is it with this weird woman? I thought I already dealt with her.”

“I'll try to explain everything when we get out of here,” Michael says.

Laura crouches before Stiles and pulls a silver St. Christopher necklace out from under his uniform. “I'm taking this for his son.”

“Michael,” Amber says. “what are we doing here –
us
, I mean?”

“I honestly don't know,” Michael replies.

“This situation … it isn't normal. Everything is happening so fast.”

“We can slow things down once this is over if you like.”

Amber folds her arms - “I'm not sure that's what I'm trying to say” - then unfolds them once she realizes she's being defensive towards her own feelings.

“Ugh, get a rooftop,” Laura says. She walks over to one of the windows and peers out into the tunnel.

“She
saw
us?” Michael asks.

“I guess she must have,” Amber replies.

The two of them can't help but chuckle.

“She's your reason for being in New York,” Amber says.

Michael looks confused. “You mean Laura is my client?”

“Uh huh. The people who are after you hired her.”

“Jesus,” Michael says. “I had no idea – so what went wrong?”

“
I guess
I
did – and Laura rearranging carefully organized plans to suit herself.”

Laura turns away from the window and starts back along the aisle. “I'm going to check on Wendy.”

“Wendy?” Michael says. “She's still here?”

“They brought her back,” Amber replies. “… and they killed Barbara.”

“
What
?”

“She wouldn't stop walking when they told her to stop, so they shot her.”

Michael shakes his head. “Still think this isn't my fault? I shouldn't have sent them out there on their own.”

“Hey, don't do that. The only people to blame here are the ones that kill innocent old ladies.”

Michael's not as convinced as Amber in regard to who's ultimately to blame for Barbara's death -
for all of this
- but decides this isn't the time or place to challenge her opinion.

“One more thing,” Amber says. “Wendy's pregnant.”

“Pregnant? And you're not concerned Laura's just went to check on her?”

“It's okay. I think Wendy's pregnancy has had an impact on Laura's behavior – for the better.”

“
You think
?”

“I'm positive.”

“How can you know this? That woman looks like a loose cannon.”

There's a noticeable pause before Amber responds. “She was pregnant herself once. I'm sure she'll do everything within her power to get Wendy out of this situation. After that, how she'll behave is anyone's guess.”

“We'll have to keep an eye on her,” Michael says. “In the meantime, we should focus on getting out of here. We're going to have the cops and the MTA crawling all over this place soon. Unicorn must have pulled some serious strings to have them hold off this long.”

“Unicorn?”

“Unified Conglomerate of Nations – or something to that effect. The one's that are after me.”

Amber looks perplexed. “That just went right over my head – don't tell me, you'll explain when we get out of here.”

“I'll try.”

“So, what happens if
we run into more of these ... Unicorns?”

“I don't think there'll be many more of them - at least, nothing we can't easily handle. I imagine they'll have wanted to keep this operation as low key as possible. We're as good as out of this now.”

At that moment, Laura comes hurrying back into the car. She's got blood on her face and neck, and she's pulling Wendy along behind her. “We need to get moving.”

Amber starts towards them. “What the hell happened?”

Without stopping, Laura replies: “I just killed one, but there's more of them.” Keeping a firm grasp of Wendy's hand, she runs past Michael and opens the end door.

“How many?” Michael asks.

Looking back briefly, Laura replies: “More than I could count.”

02:38 am
...

Amber motions to follow Laura and Wendy, but Michael holds her back.

“What are you doing?” she says. “We need to get out of here.”

“This doesn't make any sense,” he replies. “She's running back towards the front of the train.”

“And?”

“And that's the direction they've been coming from.”

Amber shakes her head. “Well maybe they're everywhere now. You saw her. She was covered in blood.”

“What if she's luring us into a trap?”

The window closest explodes to the sound of rifle fire.

Amber lets out a cry and covers her head.

Reacting quickly, Michael pulls Amber through the door Laura and Wendy passed through moments before.

Entering the next car, they're greeted with the same clamor of flying bullets and exploding windows. Laura and Wendy are halfway along the aisle. Laura is shielding Wendy with her body. Glass is raining down all around them.

“This is insane!” Amber cries. “I thought they wanted you alive!”

The window to the left of them shatters under a hail of bullets.

Michael pulls Amber to the floor. “They're not trying to kill me. They're trying to restrict my movement, make me easier to deal with.” He looks across at Laura, and begins to think maybe Amber was right to trust her with the girl.

Amber notices movement through the windows on the door behind. “Someone's coming.”

Michael reacts immediately to Amber's words. Keeping low, he lunges for the end door and throws it open. The man in the process of entering is caught completely by surprise, and it's written all over his face. Rising to his feet, Michael grabs him and spins him around.

One of the men outside the train notices movement in the car and instinctively lets rip with his M4 rifle.

Multiple slugs sink into the Kevlar on the back of the man Michael has just spun. However, one of the projectiles strays a little higher and finds a soft spot on the Unicorn man's neck. The bullet continues its upward momentum, journeying through flesh and bone, and exits just above his left cheekbone, only narrowly missing Michael.

Michael drops the lifeless body to the floor. He turns to look at Amber, but catches sight of another grunt, making his way through the neighboring car.

The man spots Michael and opens fire.

Bullets whiz past Michael's head to the sound of breaking glass. He disregards the threat and sprints for the other end of the aisle.

With Michael in clear view, the men outside the train let rip with their assault weapons.

Wendy slams her hands over her ears and shrieks over the ensuing ballistic cacophony.

Laura feels a bullet sink into her upper left arm. She squeezes shut her eyes and grits her teeth, and holds Wendy close.

Michael sprints past them both.

Bullets puncture the walls of the car and tear to shreds the molded seats. Fragments of metal and plastic flip and spin through the air.

The man in the adjacent car catches Michael's right shoulder with a perfectly aimed shot.

Michael goes down without making a sound.

Amber cries Michael's name and grips onto a handrail. She's poised to do something -
anything
.

The man talks into his headset - external weapons fire ceases - then cautiously enters the car. He waves his rifle around - “Nobody move!” - then settles it on Michael, who is lying on his back, eyes closed and bleeding. “Get up!”