The Regulators - 02 (38 page)

“There are zombies out there,” I stuttered while backing
away from the window. “I’m going out there to take care of them before their
numbers swell up any higher.”

“Let them be,” the General said before walking away to
continue whatever it was that he was doing.

“Jax isn’t always good at explaining himself,” Dudley said.
“Makes him seem like an asshole sometimes, but he doesn’t mean anything by it.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” I replied.

“Look,” Dudley said. “The zombies outside can’t break the
walls. We’re hoping that they’ll slow down the vampires a bit. At the very
least they’ll be a bit of an early warning system. If they stop trying to get
in, we’ll know that the vampires are on the property.”

“Why is that?”

“Vampires don’t seem to like zombies,” Dudley answered with
a shrug.

The work went on and on throughout the day. Finally, an hour
before the sun set, the General was finally satisfied. The defenses were
finished. The sanctuary became very quiet. Outside, we could hear the moans of
the dead. We could hear the dry slaps of their hands as they pounded against
the stone walls.

The General sat quietly upon the steps of the altar. He had
taken out his tomahawk and was slowly running a sharpening stone against the
blade. The sound of metal scraping against stone as he made slow passes over
the blade echoed throughout the church. Everyone was watching him. He didn’t
seem to notice.

A half an hour before sunset, the very youngest and the sick
were led into the basement. I was glad to see that at least a few of them were being
placed far from danger, but I was terrified that those of us remaining in the
sanctuary were their only line of defense.

It was a ragtag band to say the least. Our numbers ranged
from twelve-year-olds all the way up to seventy-year olds. They all carried
makeshift weapons or knives. They all looked terrified. I watched as the
Regulators moved among them and chatted easily. They showed them the best ways
in which to use the weapons. They calmed their fears. They told them to stick
together.

The General still sat upon the steps of the altar while his
team moved among the people. The scraps of the sharpening stone against his
tomahawk the only noise coming from his area. Even his scary black dog was
quietly sleeping next to him with her head upon his lap.

There was a little girl under my protection. Her name was
Mona. Her family used to attend services. She was a lovely, shy little girl and
she possessed the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard. She used to sing for
the congregation. When the dead began to walk, her father had been lost, but
the mother and daughter were able to escape and make their way to the church.
They had been with me almost from the beginning.

I became rather uneasy when I saw Mona slowly make her way
towards the General. I had noticed the girl watching him throughout the day and
I warned her to stay away from him. If I had been any closer, I might have
stopped her from approaching him. Yet, I was near the front door and would have
had to have shouted to halt her progress.

When she approached close enough, the General looked up at
her and finally stopped sharpening his weapon. Mona came even closer. She was
completely undaunted by the dog which lifted its head from the Generals lap and
sniffed in her direction. She handed the General a picture that I had seen her
drawing earlier in the day as she watched him.

I watched the man politely take the picture from her little
hands and whisper something to her that I was unable to hear from across the
room. I don’t know what he said, but it was undoubtedly sweet, because Mona
giggled and ran happily back to her spot behind the barricaded pews.

“
Why is this story
important to you
?”

I honestly wish I knew. It was just odd to see the man do
something nice. I had judged him on how abrasive he was. I found him to be a
tad despicable and I thought that I had his measure. I even wondered why his
team often rushed to his defense. Then, just when I thought I understood him, I
saw a completely different side of him.

He has the weight of the world upon his shoulders. That is
what Nick had told me. I began to wonder if that might not make a man forget to
act politely around others and focus on saving them instead.

Aside from that, Mona has an important part to play later
on, but I’d rather not rush ahead. Instead, allow me to take you all the way to
the setting sun.

“
Were you afraid,
Father
?”

I was terrified. I don’t mind admitting that at all. There
is something very frightening about creatures that come for you in the
darkness. It’s a primal sort of fear. The sanctuary was thick with its
presence.

Everyone became quiet again. Even the whispers had hushed.
Outside, we could still hear the moans and screams of the dead. There must have
been hundreds of them out there.

“Turn the lights on,” the General ordered when the room
became dark.

The Regulators were spread throughout the room. Each of them
looked tense. Each of them appeared ready. Despite what evil was headed our
way, I knew they would stand strong. Their commitment was evident in their
features and postures.

The sun had set.

Nothing happened for another hour.

Then the General stood up and cocked his head. He was
listening for something.

“They’ll be here soon,” he announced. “Make yourselves
ready.”

“What are they waiting for?” I asked.

The General regarded me before answering.

“They’re cleaning up the zombies that aren’t around the
church away from the neighborhood. They don’t want the interference. When
they’ve finished with that, they will come.”

If I listened hard enough, I could actually hear what he was
talking about. In the distance, there were the sounds of battle. I didn’t pick
them up before because I wasn’t too familiar with what the sounds of battle
actually sounded like.

Eventually, the sounds became louder and closer. I could
hear screams and wails in the night. Occasionally, I could even hear
explosions. If I was frightened before, it was nothing compared to what I felt
when I listened to the sounds of the vampires as they destroyed the zombies in
the surrounding area.

Around four hours after sunset, the zombies outside the
church stopped pounding on the walls. The vampires had arrived. Shortly after
that, I could hear the sounds of bones breaking and skin tearing. I could hear
the moans and screams of the zombies as they spotted what could only have
appeared to them as an easy meal.

The crashing and thumping, the chaos outside our walls
lasted only a brief moment and silence reigned supreme. I watched as everyone’s
eyes darted back and forth between all the windows. None of us knew where the
attack was going to come from. I watched Nick adjust his grip on his axe. I saw
Dudley take deep centering breaths. I observed many of the survivors whisper
quiet prayers.

The attack came from everywhere at once.

The vampires shattered the windows. The freezing air filled
the room instantly. The front door reverberated with the sounds of impact. I
could hear an unearthly laughter floating through the outside air. The very
walls of the church began to throb beneath the violence being committed upon
them. The noise was deafening. Some of the people in the sanctuary squeezed
themselves lower under the barricaded pews. Some of the children began to cry.
Someone else began to scream.

The General did nothing.

The man stood absolutely still in the center of the large room.
He was waiting for something. I just didn’t know what. I also couldn’t
understand how he could appear to be so calm. It was as if he expected
everything that was happening to happen.

Everything came to an abrupt stop. It was silent once more.

“They can’t enter the church,” someone shouted.

“Why did they stop?” someone else asked.

The first vampire came crashing through one of the broken
stained glass windows. He didn’t make it very far, and I finally learned what
the contraptions above the windows were. The General had found a few engineers
amongst the survivors and together they had constructed guillotines over all
the windows.

As soon as the vampire came crashing through, he must have
triggered the blade. I’m not sure what the blades were actually made from, but
the church had been redesigned many times over the years and a lot of materials
were stored down inside the basement.

The blade had sliced into the vampire’s neck. It didn’t
sever the head, but it must have caused the creature an immense amount of pain.
The way in which it screeched and wailed was completely awful. The black blood
that was spurting from its neck and mouth almost reached the ceiling.

Everyone began to panic.

But not the General.

He finally began to move and when he did, I was shocked at
his speed. He crossed the room instantly and the tomahawk twirled in his hand.
He brought the black blade crashing down upon the creature’s neck. The creature
wailed even louder. It thrashed even more fiercely. The General never paused,
not even for a moment. He struck the vampire again and again, until finally,
the head rolled from the shoulders.

The General picked up the head and held it out for all to
see.

“They can be killed!” he shouted. “They can be killed. All
you need to do is stay strong. All you need to do is fight.”

Everyone began to cheer. Everyone began to thump their
weapons against the floor. I even joined in myself. All the problems that I had
with the man were instantly forgotten. We all had the same goal. To help one
another survive the night.

The next attack came at the front door. I watched as pieces
of heavy wood flew across the room. I watched as the large spiked block came
pivoting down upon the vampire, instantly impaling the creature through the
chest. I watched the creature struggle against the wooden spikes. I watched its
movements begin to slow, and I watched it cease moving all together.

“Take its head off!” the General shouted. “And board up that
door.”

Nick began to hack at the creature’s neck while others set
the front door back onto its thick hinges. The youngest brought hammers and
nails. Others brought wooden braces. Soon, the doorway was strong once again.

The assault picked up with an even greater fury. The
vampires outside the room began to tear at the very walls of the church. They
began to throw rocks through the windows. The General paced up and down the
main aisle telling everyone to be patient, telling everybody to wait until they
were inside.

I personally did not want to wait for the vampires to enter
the church, but I could see the logic. Inside the sanctuary we were strong.
Inside, we had numbers on our side. The third vampire burst through the window
with the already triggered guillotine.

The dark shape punched right through the flimsy metal of the
makeshift blade and tumbled amongst us. In a flash, the General was after her,
but the damage was already being done. The people froze as she charged through
the barricade of pews and slashed out with her clawed hands.

It was horrible to see what the vampires were actually
capable of. The devastation she caused was astounding. I watched as she ripped
through clothing and flesh with ease. I saw the red blood of my fellow man
splash the walls.

The General was upon her just as soon as her attack began.
The tomahawk slashed through the air and cleaved off a piece of her skull. The
vampire screamed in pain and anger. The black drool frothed at her mouth and
she swatted the man away as if he were an annoying insect and continued her
attack upon the innocent people.

I became enraged.

Without thought I ran towards the vampire. I was determined
that she would bring no further death to the people under my protection. I
pulled the starter cord as I ran forward to meet her. I could barely hear the
motor of the chainsaw as the instrument came to life in my hands, but I could
feel the vibration. I also felt my strength returning to my arms and legs.

It was the same strength that had saved me on my very first
encounter with the zombies. I slashed the chainsaw at her neck when I was close
enough. The whirling blade ripped open her throat and the vampire gurgled and
tried to staunch the flow of blood.

The General was upon her back and hacking at her neck with a
black knife. The damage I had caused on her neck increased with his slashes and
I was covered in her vile, black blood. Still, she easily threw the General
away from her once again. I felt the blood chill in my bones as she cast her
dead eyes upon me.

The people attacked.

They came at her in a great mob. I watched her disappear beneath
their violent hands and crude weapons. I saw Nick run forth and swing his axe
down upon her head with a sickening crunch. I watched the mob undulate as she
struggled beneath them. I heard her screams. I heard her curses. I saw people
fly through the air as she swatted them away from her.

But as soon as she got away, they pulled her back down. They
were upon her. They were stabbing at her. They were causing her pain. The black
blood was everywhere. I understood how dangerous the creature was. I understood
how much damage they were capable of withstanding.

“
That’s why the
General set the traps that he did isn’t it? He wanted to trap them, to
immobilize them in order to kill them easier
.”

I would assume so. I never actually got the chance to ask
the man, but I can attest that a trapped vampire is a lot easier to destroy
than an unencumbered one.

Still, the violent mob brought the vampire down. It took
some time, of course, and lives were lost. But the vampire fell. She fell and I
charged forth once again with my chainsaw and removed her head. It wasn’t a
difficult cut by the time I got another chance to attack. The mob had seen to
that. When all was finished, she was barely even recognizable as a human shaped
figure.