Vampire Apocalypse: Descent Into Chaos (Book 2) (37 page)

Harris sank to the floor of the engine compartment in
relief. The last of the trucks were dropping quickly behind them
and Flemming seemed to be getting the engine back under control.
Though, judging by his curses and occasional violent clatter with a
hammer, the engine was still voicing its displeasure in the way it
was being treated.

They had made it, he sighed and looked over at Sandra
as she worked on Tanner. She looked up briefly as if sensing she
was being observed, and she shook her head slightly as she pressed
a damp rag against Tanner’s brow. He wasn’t going to make it,
Harris thought. Along with far too many others. Too many had died
under his orders. And somehow he continued to survive. Yes, they
had saved nearly a thousand people, and every one of those who had
died had made their own decisions, but did he really have the right
to keep asking the impossible? It had been his decision to come
here against the advice of everybody else. The guilt was crushing;
so too was his exhaustion, so that might exaggerate his maudlin
mood.

He automatically checked his XM8 and noted the
half-full magazine. He dropped the weapon as exhaustion swept over
him and he closed his eyes. He heard a strange rustling and opened
them again. He looked over at Sandra but she was too intent on
ministering to Tanner.

What is that noise? He scanned the sky but swirling
snow and black smoke obscured his view. The rustling grew louder
and he pulled himself to his feet, unable to settle until he found
out what was causing the noise. Sandra looked up at his sudden
motion but returned her attention as Tanner mumbled something.
Harris was surprised he could hear anything over the hissing of the
steam and the clack-clack of the wheels on the track but the noise
persisted and he pulled himself up onto the coal and logs to gain a
better view.

He looked upwards and to the side, out of the thick
stream of smoke that continued to snake along the length of the
train. He felt his heart suddenly stop. The sky was alive with dark
shapes like snakes roiling in a pit.

The vampires had come.

Carlos Ortega saw the first vampire as it passed
overhead between the carriages. Oh shit! He reached for his XM8 but
then remembered that he had left it behind in favor of the
explosives and he cursed himself for his shortsightedness.
Explosives were useless in this situation; it wasn’t like he could
throw…

He stopped halfway through the thought as another
idea struck him. The last two carriages were empty and made almost
entirely of wood. If he could plant enough explosives and uncouple
the carriages he might just make the world’s largest stake throwing
machine. It might just work. It wasn’t as if he had any other
choice. It was only a matter of time before one of the vampires
discovered him anyway. He pulled the bag of explosives from behind
him and set to work.

Von Kruger followed the smoke and saw the train
within minutes. His keen eyes saw that the carriages were filled
with humans. He neither knew nor cared who was taking the humans,
it wasn’t important. First he and his cabal would feed on whoever
was doing this, then they would sleep and recover, and tomorrow he
would discover who had planned this outrage and call their account
due.

His mouth grew wet in anticipation of the blood he
would soon taste and he swooped down toward the front of the
train.

Harris gathered up the three remaining XM8s and
pulled the magazines from two of them and tucked them into his
belt. There wasn’t enough ammunition to take care of that many
vampires. Even Pat Smyth’s magic bullets wouldn’t work this time.
Maybe he was finally going to die along with his men, after all.
Strangely, as he thought about it, the idea did not seem as
appealing as he thought it would. Life was always worth living no
matter how hard it got, especially when there was still so much to
do.

He sighted on the first vampire he saw and pulled the
trigger in a short three-round burst and moved on to the next
target without waiting to see if his shots had hit home. After the
first magazine emptied he calmly pulled another from his belt,
noted that it was only half-full, and slammed it home. He continued
firing.

Von Kruger snorted disdainfully as he heard gunfire
from below. Did they really think that mere bullets could stop him?
He pressed on, noting with some bad temper that a number of the
younger vampires had swept past him in their eagerness to impress
him. He would deal with them later.

He saw bullets strike the lead vampire and then he
frowned as he saw the vampire contort and drop from the sky. A
second vampire was struck beside him and he heard the vampire
scream in pain. Von Kruger didn’t know what was more worrying, the
fact that the vampire dropped to the ground helpless or the fact
that he screamed like a stuck pig all the way down.

Vampires did not feel such pain. Bullets could not
kill them. His mind refused to accept what he was seeing; though
his instinct made him slow his descent and let others pass him by.
He was not afraid, just cautious.

The fire continued in short bursts and their accuracy
was frightening as each burst struck and brought down a vampire.
Were the vampires more injured that he had thought? No, he decided,
it was the bullets. Each vampire struck screamed in such pain that
it appeared that the bullets were burning them from within. There
was something about the bullets that caused such damage. He had
never thought it possible. More vampires tumbled to the ground and
he pulled up, motioning for those around him to do the same. They
kept pace with the racing train as Von Kruger thought furiously.
Time was not on their side as the dawn would be here in two hours
or so and he would have to return to safety.

He studied the train and an idea came to him. Much as
he would like to tear this enemy apart he did not know enough about
this new weapon, and it was not worth dying needlessly. Although he
was an ancient and impervious to almost all weapons he had seen, at
least one other ancient vampire had already fallen to those deadly
bullets. He would wait. Though there was no reason why he could not
relieve this new enemy of their stolen booty. He chuckled as he
ordered his men toward the carriages.

Harris watched the vampire’s spiral down toward the
carriages about half way down the train. They were too far away to
waste ammunition on. He only had four rounds left anyway so he
could do nothing but watch helplessly as they set about uncoupling
the carriages and taking back the people he and his men had fought
and died for. Tears of frustration burned in his eyes as the
vampires alighted on the back carriages.

The majority still flew above the train; many of them
swooped closer and closer to the engine as if testing the range of
his weapon so they could determine how many carriages they could
uncouple without losing more vampires.

“If they knew we were out of ammunition they’d tear
us apart and everything would be lost.” Sandra placed her hand on
his shoulder, “At least this way we get to save more than we
thought we would. It’s still a huge victory.”

“But at a higher cost than I wanted to pay,” Harris
said bitterly.

“Harris,” she sighed as she turned his face towards
her, “when are you going to realise that it’s not your sacrifice to
make? Their lives are their own and their sacrifice is theirs to
make. Don’t cheapen it by thinking it’s all about you.”

Harris was shocked by the harshness of her words but
he could see in her eyes that she was not trying to hurt him.

“You might come up with the plans, love,” she added
as she placed her hand against his cheek, “but they follow you
because they believe in you and what you are trying to achieve. War
will always have casualties. Honor them by continuing what they set
out to achieve.”

Carlos Ortega saw the first of the vampires settle on
the racing carriage and he pressed himself down between the gap of
the second and third to last carriages. At his back he could hear
the frightened whimpers of the humans in the carriage and he tried
to keep his hands from shaking too much as he set the charges.

He needed a few more minutes to complete his plan but
if the vampires descended as quickly as they appeared to be then it
would be too late. He was having trouble setting the timer on the
charges as the vibration of the train was disrupting the mechanism
and he couldn’t get the timer to set to the five minutes he had
hoped to give himself to get clear.

It wasn’t going to work. He felt his heart begin to
thump heavily in his chest as he began to realise what he would
need to do. If he delayed any longer then any sacrifice would be
useless and the vampires would pass him and make their way further
up the train. His mind was clear and his path decided but,
strangely, he found that he couldn’t move his legs.

Suicide is painless, he thought as he tried to pull
himself up. He saw a shadow pass above him and he knew that he had
already delayed too long. They were already on the carriages he had
hoped to save.

He took a deep breath and reached down to the
coupling at his feet and pulled the lever. At first it didn’t move
but as he shifted his weight he felt it begin to give. Once it
moved that first bit the rest came easily and he jumped over to the
empty carriage and raced up to the roof of the carriage, pulling
his pistol and firing at the vampires on the other carriage.

His bullets were not coated with the special liquid
but they had the desired effect anyway. The vampires on the other
carriage launched themselves into the air and flew at him. Before
he even saw them move he felt the weapon knocked from his hand and
his throat was gripped in a grip like a steel claw.

He felt his mind swim as his oxygen was cut off and
he barely had the presence of mind to allow his hand to release the
device in his hand. He had just enough time to spit in the face of
the vampire in front of him before the explosives shattered the
night.

“That’s Carlos!” Sandra shouted as she saw the figure
jump to the roof of the second of the two carriages that were
dropping back from the main train. The vampires swarmed over the
carriages like seagulls behind a trawler heavy with the day’s
catch. The vampires had been so maddened and frustrated by their
inability to approach the engine that such an easy target was too
much for them to ignore.

A number of them still hovered high above but the
majority flew downward to the helpless figure.

“You see.” Sandra griped Harris’ hand tightly as they
watched their friend’s sacrifice. “His choice, not yours.”

Harris nodded as understanding finally came to him
and he wept for his friend as the explosives tore the carriages to
pieces. Fire erupted high into the air and the sound wave passed
over them and then they threw themselves to the floor as the night
was filled with millions of wooden projectiles that shot outward
with terrific force, tearing into everything in their path.

Von Kruger saw the single figure on the carriage and
was about to drop toward him when something stopped him. This new
enemy was tricky but he had not lived for centuries by being
stupid. He let some of his men approach the carriages but held the
others back. He could tell that they were not happy but their fear
of him was greater than their displeasure so, for now, they would
follow him.

Mere minutes later he saw the explosion and watched
in shock as the vampires in range of the explosion were torn apart
by the force of the blast. The air around him buffeted him as the
shockwave spread out, and then he noticed a strange darkness flying
out from the explosion. It was hard to tell what it was at first as
the explosion was so bright that his sensitive eyes were almost
blinded. It appeared as a small dot in the middle of the fireball
that seemed to be growing larger as it approached them. Suddenly he
knew what it was.

He grabbed the vampire nearest to him and pulled the
creature in front of him as the first of the wooden shards struck.
The creature he held screamed piteously and Von Kruger’s own hands
and feet were peppered with small and large shards, but he held his
shield ahead of him and ignored the pain.

Around him the rest of his cabal screamed as they
tried to avoid the missiles. It seemed that the air was filled with
death and Von Kruger watched in horror as his cabal dropped from
the air and disappeared into the darkness.

It seemed to go on for an age but, eventually, the
shower stopped and Von Kruger allowed his shield to fall away. He
looked briefly at the dead vampire and shivered as he saw the
number of wooden shards in his body. He plucked the worst of the
shards from his own body and screamed his defiance with the pain of
each one.

He looked around and saw three other vampires, all of
them badly injured and in need of sustenance. He looked back at the
retreating train and fuelled his anger with a vow.

“There will be a reckoning!” he shouted into the
night, and then they headed back to the town before the dawn
finished the job this new enemy had started.

Major William Carter lowered his binoculars and
whistled. He had watched the decimation of the vampires and his
respect for the humans grew. He had come into the town to join up
with Falconi and had seen the bodies of the thralls and the humans.
At first he had not believed that mere humans could actually do
such a raid but he had seen their dead with his own eyes.

Somewhere to the east these humans were growing in
number, and he would need to prepare if he was to survive their
next visit. He watched the vampires fly higher into the sky as they
retreated back to their lair to regroup. There were still many
vampires in both states though tonight’s carnage had culled them
quite satisfactorily.