General Population (15 page)

Javier watched the world around him go dark as the sun was suddenly blocked out. He didn't want to look up and confirm what he already knew but did so anyway. Kirkpatrick had taken a leap behind them and was propelled over the heads to cut them off. When he landed on the street in front of them, the ground shook slightly from his landing. They were now surrounded.

They knew there was no turning back even without looking. They could hear the supernatural lynch mob behind them getting closer and the sound of more wasps joining in the swarm. While a lot of them seemed more interested in killing each other rather than them, there was still a considerable mob of killers closing in on them.

"Fuck it, just shoot him!" Javier instructed.
 

The two men opened fire with everything they had on Kirkpatrick, but the bullets couldn't do enough damage to hurt the beast. Javier managed to get two shots at his head, but his skull was so thick that it didn't penetrate. It was hopeless.

"Just stop," said Tara. "Save them for us."

The three of them glanced at each other. Perhaps she was right; it was better to die on their terms. Javier raised his gun to his chin and cocked the hammer slowly. Maddix told Tara to close her eyes, and he put the barrel of his weapon to her head.

"Don't tell me when, just do it," said Tara. A tear slid down her cheek.

Kirkpatrick shook off the few drops of blood on his face. Javier had managed to break the skin, but he was too old and too powerful to put down with such a weak weapon. His clouded eyes focused on his prey, and his muscles tightened up in preparation to pounce. His hind legs pushed him forward and into the air.

But he was intercepted.

"Run, you idiots!" a familiar voice broke through the tension.

"It's Tanya!" said Javier.
 

"We're not done yet," Maddix stated. "Let's run!"

The three ran into the forest. Kirkpatrick was wrestling with Tanya, who was half his size and not as strong, but she moved quicker and more calculated. Kirkpatrick swiped at her wildly, but Tanya could stick and move like a boxer and eventually managed to sink her teeth into Kirkpatrick's back.

"Chief!" The voice of Roberts caught Javier's attention and he stopped.

The constable was alive and standing. His wound was gory but healing right before Javier's eyes. Roberts' skin was like leather, and his eyes were narrow. It was apparent to Javier that Roberts had survived his ordeal long enough for the change to happen. Roberts was now one of the creatures he had the most disdain for and there would be no cure for him.
 

Roberts grabbed at his stomach in pain and tried to call for Javier one last time before he was unable to speak. Javier wanted to end his pain, but there wasn't any time for mercy. He would have to meet his fate with the other prisoners in the realm. He watched for a moment as his friend and underling for so many years suffered through his transformation.

After ten minutes of running, they decided that it would be much easier to veer off into the forest and continue toward the lake under the cover of trees and zombie stench. There were still quite a few left that hadn't been stung by the wasps and didn't pose any threat to the group. Zombies rarely stood on the outskirts of the forest anyway.

 
Maddix motioned for his two companions to come closer and pointed to Krazek's house in the distance past the foliage. There was a small fishing boat on the shore with a pair of oars laid across it.

Javier let out a gasp when he saw the bodies of who he could only assume were his men spread out on the beach. Their bodies had been picked clean by the lake creatures and nothing but bones and shredded clothing remained. Javier had to choke back some bile when he saw the horrific scene.
 

"You okay?" asked Tara, offering a gentle rub on Javier's back while he coughed.

"Doesn't really matter anymore," Javier replied. "The coast is clear, let's just do this."

Each of them stepped out from the foliage and scanned the perimeter. It was mostly quiet except for some commotion in the distance toward town. The skyline glowed and flickered. It appeared that someone had started some fires.

"Either the town is on fire or someone is trying to burn some bodies," said Maddix.

"It's all in the past now, monsieur. You sure those things won't try to eat us, too?" Javier pointed his finger at the chewed bones.

"They can't hurt us. I discovered that already today."

Maddix knocked on Krazek's door. After several seconds of silence, he knocked louder, calling the wizard's name as he did. Once again, there was no answer. Oh well, guess they would have to take his boat without asking. Not that Maddix was in the mood to be polite, anyway.
 

"He's probably hiding or dead," said Javier.

"Or worse, if he got stung by one of those things. Could he start casting spells?" asked Tara.

"I don't think so," Maddix answered. "I think those things do something to the brain, that's why Smitty didn't recover when you pulled it off of him."

Maddix walked over to the boat and started dragging it.
 

"Help me move this to the water."

The three of them dragged the small boat over to the edge of the lake and dropped it in. Tara grabbed the oars and threw them inside. It was just big enough that they could all fit in, but not a lot of space to move if they needed to. It would make defending themselves difficult, but they agreed splitting up would be even more dangerous.

"Okay, one of us will work the oars while the other two take point, front, and back and watch for trouble," instructed Maddix.

"I'll row the boat. I'm not a good shot anyway," Tara stated.

"I'll take front then. Javier, the rear?"

"Oui, monsieur."

One-by-one they climbed into the small boat. It was a tight fit and maneuvering the oars was tough but slightly easier due to Tara's small frame. The two men sat with their pistols drawn watching for anything that might get in the way.

It took less than five minutes to get halfway across the lake. Tara kept her breathing steady and rowed like a champion.
 

Maddix was alerted to an approaching wasp and instinctively aimed his pistol at it.

"One of those things is flying right at us!"

"Try to shoot it!" shouted Javier.

Maddix thought that Javier must have been kidding. He did his best to get a good shot at the approaching insect, but it moved too fast and was way too small for him to even try to get it in the sights.
 

"No good! Here is comes!"
 

The three of them closed their eyes and ducked their heads down. Maddix and Javier covered their necks with their hands clasped tight, but Tara didn't give up rowing. Each of them prepared for the inevitable that never came. It had closed the distance to five feet when a lake monster jumped out of the water and swallowed the wasp whole. The cold and slimy water splashed down on all of them as the creature dove back under the surface.

Javier began to laugh.

"Well, that's something new," remarked Maddix, as he also began to laugh.

Tara's arms were starting to get sore, but she managed to get them to the shore without so much as a complaint. It was a tiny island, no bigger than eight yards or so long with a lone tree growing next to a big rock parked in the center.

"That's where it is." Maddix pointed to the rock.

"Is it a secret passage or something?" asked Javier.

"No. We have to move it."

"Are you crazy? That's too big for just the two of us to move."

"Three," said Tara. She put her hands on her hips and gave Javier a scolding glare.

"No disrespect intended, but that's too big for even three of us."

"Just roll up your sleeves," Maddix instructed. "We can do it."

Javier removed his uniform jacket and rolled up his sleeves. The rush of cool breeze suddenly made him realize just how uncomfortable the jacket had been. "Let's do it."

They each placed their hands against the cold stone and pushed with all the force they could gather. Tara's arms were like butter from all the rowing, but she refused to let anything get in her way. To her and Javier's surprise, it moved a lot easier than its size would suggest it would. A few good shoves and the rock moved, revealing a trap door underneath. Maddix opened the door, and looked inside where a small wooden box was sitting undisturbed. On top of the lid was a carving of a gate …
the
gate.
 

Just where I left it
, he thought to himself.

"Is that the key?" questioned Tara.

"The key is kept in this box."
 

"Let's see it," said Javier.
 

Maddix was lost in his thoughts. "I'd never thought I'd be the overseer to actually use it."

Maddix slowly began to undo the latches on the box.
 

A rustling in the tree caused the three to stop and look around. Javier had already drawn his weapon and aimed it at the tree. Peering carefully through the leaves he could see something brownish in color hanging from a branch.

"It's a bat!" Javier shouted and opened fire.
 

The bat was too fast and charged Javier, attacking his face and causing him to drop his gun.

Maddix reached for his weapon and took aim. Standing before him was a well-built, naked man holding a large clawed hand to the throat of Javier. He had seen this man before under different circumstances.

"Havel Statsny," said Maddix. "Back from the dead … again."

Javier was frightened and extremely confused by his current situation. How was this vampire able to put his hands on him like this? Could the wasps have gotten to him? He wasn't acting all wild like the others. It dawned on him once his eyes looked to the ground near Maddix's feet and saw his pristine gold badge still pinned to his blue uniform jacket. He had let his guard down in the worst possible way.
 

"Pleasure to finally meet you, Overseer. I must apologize to your lovely assistant about my lack of attire. It's not as it is in the books," said Havel.

"I had a feeling you might still be alive. Why the ruse?"

"Distraction, nothing more. Now if you would be so kind as to hand over the key."

Maddix laughed.
 

"Over my dead body. You can't hurt me and I'll be damned if I'm going to help you escape."

Havel started to drive his clawed finger deeper into Javier's neck. Some blood dripped from the wound and onto his collar. Javier refused to acknowledge the pain. He'd be damned if he were going to let this bloodsucker have any satisfaction.

"I will ask one more time, then he dies."

"Fuck you," said Maddix. "Constable Larouche knows the risks as do the rest of us."

"Then perhaps we should just take it, no?" asked a woman's voice from behind them.
 

They both turned but saw nothing. In an instant, the box was snatched from Maddix's hand. Quickly they turned to find the naked form of Drahomira Statsny holding the box and smiling.

Maddix drew his weapon and opened fire on her. The bullets bounced off of her like rubber. Small burns marks appeared on her skin but quickly faded.

"Silver is mildly itchy, but useless, Overseer," explained Drahomira wiping away at faux injuries.

With that, Havel tossed Javier to the ground and laughed at him.
 

"I would like to thank you for your assistance in investigating my brother's demise, but—as you can see—your services are no longer needed. Ever." Drahomira almost cackled as she spoke.

"I don't get it. With those things flying around making everyone crazy, why the need to make us think your brother was dead?" Tara asked.

"Simple," said Havel. "We've always known that the overseer must have some way of opening the gate, we just didn't know how. Some decades ago one of the past overseers went mad and started screaming about a key. He almost opened the gate back then, but his assistant stopped him before he could. One day he was gone, and a new overseer took over. We've spent all that time since studying everything about you. Then the constables came, and that made things more difficult."

"Sorry to be such a pain in the ass," said Javier, and spit on the ground.

"Where did you get those wasps? Without them, none of this would have worked."

"Precisely," replied Drahomira. "You didn't do what we expected you to do. After seeing my brother dead, we had hoped you would open the gate then, but you didn't. So we had a … how do you say it? Plan B."

"Where the hell did they come from?"

Havel started to look around. He could hear the sound of a swarm coming close. "Why don't you ask them yourself? Seems as though they are coming in for a bite."

"Yes, we should go. I am allergic," said Drahomira, sarcastically.

Drahomira grabbed the small boat and with a single arm smashed it into pieces against the tree, before standing next to her brother. The three watched as the two quickly morphed into bat form and carried the box with them as they flew away.
 

The buzzing was growing louder.

"Now we are fucked, monsieur."

"Not yet," said Maddix. He grabbed Javier's jacket and tossed it to him. "Grab your badge. We're going to have to swim."

"With those things in the lake?"

"They can't hurt us, and if we stay under the surface as much as possible, those things will deal with the wasps for us."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, eh?" Javier ripped the badge from his jacket and pinned it to his shirt.
 

"Let's hope so."

With that said, the three dove into the water just as a swarm of the wasps swooped down on the island. They kept low, only coming up for air when necessary.

As Maddix suspected would happen, the creatures paid them no mind and instead focused on eating the wasps as they flew overhead. By the time they reached the end, the buzzing was gone.