Fall of the Mortals (Book 1) (10 page)

“You’re all family?” asked Betty.

“We’re as close to family as you can get without DNA,” Terry responded.

“Who are you?” asked Harold.

“Before all this craziness happened out there, we called ourselves the
L.A. Riders North,”
answered Terry. “My uncle, Barry
The Straycat
Willis ran the
L.A. Riders South
but he and his boys are no longer with us.”

“Sorry to hear that,” replied Betty compassionately, yet uncomfortable at their presence.

“So, you’re a biker gang then?” asked Harold.

“I guess you can say that,” Terry grinned, glancing at his crew. Each of them snickered. 

“Where you boys been hiding all this time?” asked Shaun.

“We had a pretty good crib up in the north hills,” said Curtis. “It was a cave, more or less.”

“It kept us out of the rain and away from
them
at night time,” said Trent.

“So what happened?” asked Shaun.

“That last earthquake ripped our secret hole in the mountain apart,” said Brody.

 “When the ceiling opened up, the dirt and the rocks kept coming in,“ Billy responded. “We stayed in as long as we could but the ceiling was going to drop right on top of us.”

“Flushed us right out like a pack of damn rats,” stated Mark.

“What are these things you all have with you?” asked Harold, noticing their strange backpacks. “Is that a garden hose attached to it?”

“This here, my man, is our secret weapon against
them
,” said Terry holding up his hose gun, smiling confidently and shooting a quick spray of fluid in the air. “All you do is point, aim and pull the trigger at them fanged bastards. Game over.”

“But what is it?” asked Betty.

“Holy water from St. Peters Church, blessed by Reverend Ellis Goldstein himself,” answered Terry.

“Holy water. No kidding?” asked Shaun.

“Works like acid on ’em,” stated Trent. “Feels like water, burns like fire.”

“I noticed,” said Shaun, handling one of the spray guns in his hands.

“Where were you guys heading tonight?” asked Harold.

“Anywhere,” answered Terry. “We couldn’t stay in the mountain anymore. Our last hope was to fill up our hoses, hit the road and take our chances.”

“You found us,” stated Harold in a relieved tone.

“Weren’t you afraid of the vampires?” asked Yuri.

“Our house in the hills was broken down, man. They had us. We’d rather take ’em head on in a fight,” answered Terry. “Know what I mean?”

“That’s what I’m talking about!” hollered Mr. Jones, standing up in a fury. “Damn vampire bastards!”

Terry and his crew looked at Mr. Jones as if he were a nut case.

“Easy Jonesy,” said Harold calmly staring at him, wishing he would be silent. Jones sat down and quieted himself.

“I’d like you all to meet Vincent Jones,” Harold continued. “He’s been with us for a while. I’m Harold. This is my wife Betty. Over here is Trang, Phan and his family.”

“I’m Thai.”

“I’m Kim.”

Trang and Ni nodded at Terry with cheerful grins.

Mercedes hid behind Betty and peeked around her hip. She was afraid of the seven men in dark clothing.

“And down here is Mercedes. Come out, honey, don’t be shy,” said Betty, looking down at her. Mercedes didn’t budge.

“That’s okay darlin’. I admit we’re scary to look at,” chuckled Curtis, casting Mercedes a wink. Curtis’ pudgy face, handle-bar mustache, his dark hair pulled back in a ponytail didn’t help Mercedes feel comfortable around the men dressed in black.

“Anyway, you met Shaun and these youngsters over here are Tommy and Chris,” stated Harold. “This gentleman is Yuri. He’s from Russia.”

“Bitchin’ man. Bikers,” said Chris, smiling and fist bumping Terry and Curtis. “’Bout time we get some cool people around here.”

Mark stared at Kim. He didn’t take his eyes off her. She noticed his gawking, smiled at him and looked away.

“We consider ourselves a family. We’ve been through a lot together,” stated Harold, calmly putting his around Betty. He clearly gave the appearance of being the father of the tower family.

“That’s great, man. I’m impressed with your guys’ set up here, Harold,” said Terry, looking the place over and walking towards the windows. “Just how exactly do you guys keep
them
out?”

“The blinds,” Yuri answered.

“Huh?” asked Terry looking over them, confused.

“They’re dipped in a special chemical,” Yuri explained. “A vampire repellant. It’s my invention.”

“That’s a lot of damn blinds, bro,” said Trent as he and the rest of the bikers stepped to the windows, inspecting the wooden strips.

“I’ll say,” said Brody.

“That’s way impressive,” said Mark, looking closely at a set along the windows.

“And this protects you folks at night?” asked Billy.

“It holds them off,” answered Shaun. “Typically, I sit up and wait for anything being a guard dog. Once in a while, something overbearing will happen.”

“Overbearing? What do you mean?” asked Terry.

“One got in the other night,” answered Shaun. “He threw my bike right through the freaking window.”

“How did you stop him?” asked Curtis.

“This,” answered Shaun, holding up one of Jones’ crucifixes. “Right in the eyeball.”

“With the help of a Remington twelve gauge,” Harold added with a smirk.

“Regular firearms worked on ’em?” asked Terry as he and his crew looked at Harold, waiting for a response.

“Only to force him back through the window,” answered Harold.

“Right,” said Terry. “There’s something to be said about the
holy
stuff, folks. I’ve watched vamps be shot in the face, fall to the ground and the injuries healed right before my eyes. Scariest damn thing I ever seen.”

“They’re immortal,” stated Curtis.

“So, what’s your plan here, Harold?” asked Terry. “Looking to outlive these things in your tower or what?”

Harold glanced at Shaun for a response.

“We’re forming a plan to move to Vegas,” said Shaun.

“Why Vegas?” asked Curtis.

“Our supplies have a time limit,” Harold responded. “The day will come when this will no longer be a feasible arrangement.”

“I spoke with someone in Vegas over the radio a couple months ago,” said Shaun. “There’s possibly survivors in the Stratosphere Casino.”

“Stratosphere, huh?” Terry asked, glancing at Curtis with a creepy expression. “I hate to break it to ya, Shaun, but they’re dead.”

“I knew it!” said Chris.

“How do you know that, Terry?” asked Shaun.

“Me and the boys have been there done that,” Terry explained. “We looked the place over a couple of months ago.”

“Really? That’s about the last time I spoke with somebody,” said Shaun.

Terry glanced at Curtis again with a suspicious look. Shaun picked up on their body language.

“The guy I talked to said his name was Rick Mason. Sound familiar?” asked Shaun.

“Nope,” said Terry, shaking his head.

“We crashed every casino hotel on the old and new ends of the strip including the Rio and the Palms,” said Curtis. “There’s nothing there but death.”

“A few slot machines still worked though,” said Trent, chuckling to himself. 

Shaun looked at Harold, rubbing his chin, thinking for a moment.

“Have you heard anything about the US government firing nuclear weapons at major cities?” asked Harold.

“We heard a scrambled broadcast a few weeks ago about a final gathering in D.C.,” stated Terry.

“What’s your take on it?” asked Harold.

“Our take is unless you got a plane that’s going to fly you across the board in five hours, you might as well forget it,” said Terry. “With the vamps out there, it’s impossible to go anywhere, safely anyway.”

“We’d be better off if the vamps took out the D.C. guys too and stopped them from launching anything,” Billy added with a smirk.

“I hate the government,” Mark added. “Who cares about them anyway?”

“What if they deploy from a submarine?” asked Shaun, trying to annoy the bikers’ mindset. He didn’t like their
anti-government
perspective, being a former police officer.

Curtis chuckled at the fact Shaun wasn’t getting it.

“Shaun. The point is the game is already over, bud. This is just an extended survivor exercise,” stated Terry. “There’s no getting out of here, plain and simple.”

Shaun and Harold stared at Terry wishing he would have said something different.

“Sorry people. As painstaking as it may seem, you’re better off hunkering down right here,” said Terry. “There’s nothing out there, man. Nothing.”

 “You’ll be staying with us, then?” asked Harold.

“Harold,” said Terry, shaking his hand sincerely. “We’d be honored to be part of the family, if you’d have us.”

Curtis and the crew smiled and fist bumped each other.

Shaun grieved over Terry’s words. He was grateful for Terry and the others saving him and helping them get back to the tower that night but now their problems had multiplied. They now had seven more mouths to feed. Going to Vegas seemed bleak. Terry and the others were clearly unsupportive of leaving. It was as if they had already doomed themselves to an awful fate and they didn’t care.

Shaun looked at the bikers closely and grew more uncomfortable. He noticed red-spotted rashes on the sides of Brody, Mark and Billy’s faces. There were also bags under their eyes shaded in blue and black. Trent kept scratching the side of his face repeatedly. He knew exactly what these signs were. He had seen them a million times before when he was a cop. Terry and his boys were drug abusers and were most likely methamphetamine or heroin addicts. He was saddened that there was no way he going to trust them. Not fully anyway. In fact, he was going to have to keep an eye on all of them.

 “You’re welcome to occupy the next level down, if you need the space,” Betty added, pleased they were staying.

“All of us sleep here on level seventy-two but seventy-one is all yours,” said Harold, smiling, glad more people were added to their family.

“That would be great, Harold. And don’t worry, we won’t get in your way,” Terry smiled.

“No worries there,” said Harold, still smiling at them.

A horrible feeling came over Shaun. He just realized seven people would be sleeping beneath him. Now seeing Sharon was going to be harder
. What if they notice the elevator going down in the middle of the night? Damn it!
he thought.

***

Three o’ clock in the morning came. Shaun didn’t bat an eye. Harold and the others fell asleep an hour before. They stayed up for a while talking about Terry and the others, referring to them as the new members of the tower family.  It was nice to have another night without the vampires taunting them at the windows.
Did Sharon have anything to do with that? Did my giving her my blood cause her to tell the others to lay off?
he wondered.

Shaun wasn’t happy. As time went on, the thought of Terry and his posse being there bothered him. He knew there was going to be conflict with them. After all, they were bikers involved in drugs. He knew it but couldn’t prove it to the others. He feared they most likely had previous criminal histories as well. Another disturbing feeling came over Shaun. He noticed Terry’s body language was strange when they talked about the Stratosphere Casino earlier. It was as if something happened there but they didn’t want anyone to know about it.
Who are these guys? What have they been doing out there?
Shaun pondered. He got up quietly. It was time to see Sharon. He put on his gray hoodie and concealed another crucifix inside his waistline as usual. He got an idea and left.

The elevator stopped at level seventy-one. The doors opened. Shaun peeked into the room and noticed Terry and the rest of the guys were asleep. He felt relieved. Maybe it wasn’t going to be as bad as he thought. The elevator doors closed and went down to level sixty-eight. Shaun got the chills. He was about to have another encounter with his vampire wife. It felt so wrong what he was doing but so necessary at the same time. Sharon was waiting for him. Her piercing eyes gleamed through the broken window anticipating her next drink of blood. He approached the window with the cup. Her eyes widened and focused on it as he held it in his hand. She salivated and licked her lips. She put up her hands and anxiously fluttered her fingers.

“Well?” asked Shaun.

“Give me the blood,” Sharon responded impatiently. “First, the vehicle information,” stated Shaun firmly.

Sharon sighed and drifted away from the window. Shaun doubted her. “Did you find one?” he asked making a slit in his palm again, his blood dripped into the cup.

“Give me the blood and I’ll tell you,” said Sharon, turning around and gazing at the cup. It was as if the cup was a year’s supply of oxygen.