Vampire Miami (27 page)

“All right,” said the general. “This is how it’s
going to go down. The best approach is the subtle one, so we’re not
going to send everybody out in an armada of vehicles. Instead, Mrs.
Brown and Selah will ride with Cholly and Maria Elena in the jeep.
Cloud, you’ll ride up ahead, scouting for obstructions or
roadblocks. Joey, Cassie, you two will bring up the rear. Don’t
crowd them. Stay back at least two blocks, but don’t lose sight of
them, either. Go the speed limit. Keep off the 95, and instead cut
inland from here and work your way south toward the embassy.”

He pulled out a map and spread it on the kitchen
counter, pushing aside the jar of peanut butter and several plates.
He quickly outlined their route and made sure both Cloud and Cholly
knew where to go.

“Now. We only get this one shot. I don’t believe
we’ll have any difficulty getting in. It’s early, and people drive
to the embassy all the time. Just keep calm, and you should have no
trouble. If you are intercepted, well …” The general surveyed them
all, his expression severe. “You need to get through. Get creative.
Stick together, and when in doubt, accelerate. Awful advice, but
without serious weaponry or real backup, you need to just go for
your objective. Clear?”

Everybody nodded, holding mugs of coffee close,
staring at the map. Cloud began to argue with the general about the
route, and the others drifted back into the living room to collect
their meager belongings, fold blankets, put away pillows. Maria
Elena disappeared back into the bathroom, and Cholly began to carry
the suitcases out to the jeep.

It came together quickly from that point. Soon
everybody was on or in their rides, and the general was standing in
his doorway, hands linked behind his back. Selah raised her hand to
wave, and he gave her a curt nod in return. Cloud accelerated away
down the road, picking up a little distance, and then Cholly
followed. Looking behind, Selah saw Cassie and Joey sitting on
their bikes, Cassie yawning hugely one last time, and then they too
took off.

This is it,
said Selah.
Our one shot
at freedom.

The light was crystal gray, reducing
perspective, making things seem indistinct and without depth. They
cruised through block after block of overgrown homes, some
collapsed, a rare few done up and well kept. Eventually, they
crossed a major avenue, and then passed over the interstate. It
felt like crossing a major barrier, and Selah allowed herself to
feel a little more hope.
Come on
, she said, watching Cloud’s
back.
Come on
.

Nobody spoke. Everybody was tense. Mama B
gripped the oh-shit handle tightly, but otherwise seemed relaxed.
Cholly was actually sweating, mopping at his brow with his forearm.
Cloud was inscrutable up ahead, navigating smoothly, looking calm
and cool and collected as he led them through the neighborhoods. A
few more blocks and he raised his left arm to indicate a turn, and
then swooped lazily across and out of sight.

Cholly followed. This was the last stretch, a
straight shot south that would run into the old hospital complex
from the north. Selah scanned the road ahead. Nothing. Just the
usual abandoned vehicles, the occasional pedestrian ducking out of
sight as they heard the sound of engines.

“What’s that?” asked Maria Elena. “You guys hear
that?”

“What?” asked Selah, turning around to stare
behind them. Cassie and Joey were just now making the turn.

“What’re you hearing, Maria?” asked Cholly, and
then he heard it to. “Shit.”

“Doesn’t mean anything,” said Mama B. “Stay
calm.”

A helicopter. The scudding sound of its blades
as it approached. It grew louder.

“They might just be heading down to the embassy
too,” said Mama B. Her voice was tight. Everybody scanned the
skies, craning their heads out the windows. The sound grew
louder.

“Get your heads inside,” said Mama B. “Don’t
look so damn suspicious.”

Cholly began to accelerate, and then caught
himself and eased back to their normal speed. Selah saw the
helicopter first. It was a large black machine, not military but
larger than a news helicopter. It came into view to their left,
crossing Miami from the coast side, not too high up.

“No,” said Selah. “No, no, no! Cholly, hit it!”
The helicopter had corrected its flight path at the sight of them,
flowing away from its direct approach to now come in at an angle,
following their road. She could see people standing in the open
door pointing at them. “Go!”

Cholly slammed on the gas, and the jeep’s engine
rose to a muffled roar as they took off. It took Cloud a moment to
realize what was up, so fixated was he on the road, but when he saw
them coming, he looked around frantically before catching sight of
the helicopter.

There was no way they could outrace it, Selah
knew. But perhaps they could go fast enough to prevent it from
landing. Cholly hunched over the wheel, driving as fast as he dared
with so many obstacles in the road. The rear-seat passengers
sloshed from side to side. Cloud stared frantically up at the
helicopter, no doubt running through a hundred scenarios,
desperately searching for one that made sense, that could help.

“How did they find us?” asked Maria Elena.
“That’s not fair!”

Selah almost opened her mouth to correct Maria
Elena, tell her there was no such thing as fairness, and then
decided to save her breath. Her heart thrummed, her palms slick
with sweat. “How close are we?”

“Another five minutes,” said Cholly. “Almost
there.”

“They won’t be content to just follow us,” said
Mama B. “They’re going to try something. We should expect a
roadblock outside the embassy.”

“It had better be a damn good one,” said Cholly.
“I’m building up speed and I don’t intend to stop.”

Selah gazed past Cholly’s at Cloud as he came to
a sudden stop, turning his bike sideways so abruptly that he slid a
few yards to stare down the road at where a black SUV and three
motorbikes had rounded a corner and were driving up toward
them.

“They’re not waiting for the roadblock,” said
Mama B. “Cholly, drive—”

But he wasn’t waiting for orders. He turned the
wheel hard to the right and they screeched around the corner,
leaving the avenue and other vehicles behind, the jeep actually
almost rising onto its two far left wheels, Maria Elena screaming
as they all held on. Cholly slammed down the accelerator again.
They were off route, but he had studied the map.

Madness behind them. The black SUV barreled
right after, and moments behind it Cassie and Joey zipped by, arms
extended before them as they fired their guns, out of sight as
quickly as they’d entered it. Where was Cloud? Cholly turned left,
and Selah lost them.

“Watch out!” yelled Mama B, and Selah turned to
see a motorbike coming toward them, the driver extending his gun
right at them. The helicopter hummed right overhead now, its rotor
blades causing palm trees to whip back and forth as if lashed into
agony.

“Stop and get out of the vehicle,” came a voice
over a loudspeaker. “Stop or we shall open fire.”

The biker didn’t seem intent on colliding with
Cholly, who stayed right in the center of the road and went as fast
as he could. Instead, he whipped the bike onto the left curb, and
then strafed their tires with his machine-gun pistol as he drove
past. The sound of gunfire was shattering, and immediately the jeep
began to list onto its left side.

Selah looked behind, following the bike, and saw
Cloud come roaring out from around the corner, nearly colliding
with the guy who’d just past them. He had his own pistol out and
took two shots at the enemy motorbike, missing but causing the guy
to flinch away. Doing so at high speed was fatal—the bike responded
to the driver’s ducking down, and as he was already on the
sidewalk, he had little room for error. He drove into the wall,
spilling head over heels as his bike tumbled out before him.

Maria Elena cheered, and then the SUV pulled out
behind them, a man emerging through the sunroof with a rifle at his
shoulder. He sighted down its barrel and Selah saw he was tracking
Cloud surging away before him.

“Cloud, watch out!” screamed Selah, helpless.
She heard the crack of the rifle, and then Cloud was down, off his
bike, rolling over and over as his bike flipped and leaped into the
air and came crashing down onto the road.

“No!” screamed Selah, clawing at her safety
belt, not knowing what she was going to do, trying to stand. Maria
Elena wrestled her down, and Mama B yelled. Only Cholly stayed
silent and focused on the open road before them. Selah tried to
keep her eyes on Cloud, but he fell behind the SUV and was lost
from sight. “Cloud!”

“Stop the vehicle,” came the voice again from
the helicopter. “You have nowhere to run.” It was flying just ahead
of them, perhaps twenty feet up, skimming along over the rooftops.
Maria Elena managed to pin Selah’s arms to her sides by hugging her
tightly, holding her down, speaking urgently but Selah wasn’t
listening.

“Hold on,” said Cholly, and they all looked
forward. A second SUV had parked across the street a block down,
and four men had climbed out, each holding a rifle. They stepped
behind the SUV and leveled their guns.

“Cholly,” said Mama B, “Cholly, what are you
doing?”

He just lowered his chin and began to breathe
loudly, mouth open, going as fast as the jeep could go. They
jostled and bounced over the cracked asphalt, and Selah saw that he
was aiming for the nose of the SUV, planning to blast right through
it and over the pavement.

“Last warning,” came the voice. Then, “Open
fire.”

The windshield exploded inward as bullets tore
through Cholly, punched through his seat and then through the back
of the jeep. But for Maria Elena’s restraining hug that had pulled
her over, Selah would have been killed as well. There was an
explosion of noise, of glass shattering. People screaming. The jeep
swerved to the left, clipped the wall. They were falling, rolling.
Glass, impact, silence.

Selah coughed. Tried to turn her head. She was
lying across Maria Elena who hung from her seatbelt. The engine was
still running, and the smell of blood and exhaust and gasoline was
everywhere. Fumes from the exploded airbags laced the air, and
Selah touched her hand to her temple. Blood. She tried to think.
She had to do something. The world was spinning. Was she upside
down? No. She was hanging over Maria Elena, shoulder against the
broken window. The jeep was on it side.

Yells from outside. She had to move. “Mama?”
Nobody answered. She forced herself to turn, half fell past Maria
Elena and onto the ground beyond her. Sat up just as men tore open
the door above and peered inside.

“Mama?” No response from the front. Terror
knifed into her, fighting the confusion and pain. She reached out
and touched her grandmother’s shoulder. She had been wearing her
seatbelt. “Mama, are you OK? Mama B!” Her voice spiraled into
panic. Men reached down into the jeep, trying to grab her. She
kicked out, punched ineffectively at their masked faces. Hands
seized her forearm, scooped her under the arm, began to haul her
out. She fought them, but it was useless. Screamed when she saw
Cholly, what they had done to him.

Out into the morning light, to be carried away
from the jeep. She twisted, fought further, contorted and lashed
out, managed to score a kick between somebody’s legs. They let go,
fell back, only to be replaced by somebody else. Over the broken
road, away from her family, her friends. She strained against them,
wished as she never had wished before for vampire potency, for
their power that allowed her to knock others down as if they were
dolls. But no. She was just Selah. She couldn’t break free, and
then they were in the copter, and it was lifting into the sky.
Somebody placed a mask over her face, and a cold gas washed down
over her. She writhed, struggled, but it was becoming harder.
Impossible. Her limbs were leaden. Terror and fear weighed her
down.
Mama
, she thought.
Cloud.
And then she was
gone.

Selah awoke from a dream of stillness, of a city
empty of people and vampires. Of nature reclaiming the world,
clothing the asphalt and concrete in her finery of green, of birds
and animals making their homes in basements and offices and
theaters that had once belonged to man. Of the great and vast
sensation of
rightness
, of how this was for the best. Awoke
by slow degrees, not realizing she was awake until after she’d
opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling for some time.

A nightlight glowed by her bed. It was a small
lamp, and it had to be on a dimmer because its luminescence was but
a soft glow that did little to push the darkness of the room away.
She was in a huge bed, a king-sized expanse that accepted her body,
molded itself about her contours and made her feel almost as if she
were floating. She looked about, turning her head from one side to
the other. A window to her left, large and open, looking out onto
trees. She could see trunks, hear the sound of the wind stirring
leaves. She lay still. Didn’t want to think, not yet. Lay still,
and stared out the window. The trees reminded her of something, her
dream perhaps. What had she dreamt? She couldn’t remember.
Something soothing. Something good. She took a deep breath and
closed her eyes. Floated in the stillness, and then the first
pinpricks of memory came to her.

The flash of an image. Mama hanging from her
seatbelt, head lolling to one side, unresponsive. Selah grimaced,
and turned her head sharply away. Another image: Cloud falling in
slow motion off his bike, tumbling along the ground. Selah gripped
the sheets in her fists, willed it away. No. Cholly, his chest a
riot of raw flesh, his eyes wide open, startled even in death.
No
.