They followed the maze of hallways this way and that, until finally they ran out of places to run. With no other options, they took the door at the end of the corridor with hopes to find somewhere to hide.This room already had several upturned tables, chairs, and desks, and Gabriel and Jay ran towards one, leaped up and over, and came down into a crouch on the far side.“What are we gonna do?” demanded Jay between gasps for breath. “We can’t keep running forever.”“No we can’t,” agreed someone.Gabriel nearly jumped out of his skin. He spun away from Jay, facing the other direction for the first time, and discovered the others of their group were already hiding in the room.“Christ!” he spat. “Like my nerves aren’t on end enough.”“How the hell did we all end up here?” asked Jay.“It just seems like all directions lead to this room,” Aliyah said, shrugging.“Anyone else get the uncomfortable feeling like we’ve been herded like cattle?” Mac asked.They sat in uncomfortable silence a
She quickly readjusted the gun and fired again.This time the bullet ripped up through the creature’s rib cage, along its chest, and out through its lower neck. The creature dropped her, reGabriel ng back and grabbing at the two new holes in its body. It seemed to be in pain, but it didn’t seem to be dying.Jake collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. Her entire body ached from where the creature had been pressed up against her. She still couldn’t see, though she had trouble knowing if that was from the lack of oxygen or the darkness of the room.The creature recovered and turn to face Jake. A fire burned in its eyes. It stormed over to her, raising a fist to strike.The roar of a shotgun filled the room. The creature, already overbalanced as it prepared to strike, was knocked clear off the ground and crashed backwards into a nearby table.Mac lowered his shotgun and stepped over to Jake, offering her his hand. She took it and he pulled her back to his feet.“Metal Health,” Jay said
He paused and looked up at Gabriel , and then back down at his hands. “You were right. But there is too much blood on these hands. I am not a monster, I am just a man. Like all men, I am sick, and everywhere I go I spread that sickness. And death. I was wrong. This is not the flood of renewal. This is the end. The time for man is over. We belong dead. All of us.”He turned and stared at the others, who by this point had all recovered and pushed themselves back to their feet. He looked over each person one by one, until his eyes came to a rest on Mac, and Mac’s shotgun.“All of us,” he repeated, louder, and the words became a roar as he dashed toward Mac.Mac’s eyes went wide, but he didn’t hesitate. He raised his shotgun and fired. The blast hit Sgt. Moore square in the chest and sent him spiraling out of control. He crashed to the ground, obliterating some tables with his weight as he went down.It wasn’t enough to stop him, though. Letting loose another roar, he rose and again barre
“That’s it,” Gabriel said, breathily. “The vampire.”“What do we do now?” Jake asked, as they all stood there staring at the creature.“We need to kill it,” said Gabriel .“We need to draw blood,” Jay reminded, lifting up his case.“We need to draw blood, and then kill it,” Gabriel corrected. He paused for a second, and then turned to look at the others. “Wait a minute, what? Why are we drawing blood?”“Paul’s idea,” explained Jake. “Just in case your little ‘theory’ didn’t pan out. He said if he could get a sample of blood from the mon…” she paused, realizing what she was about to say, and swallowed hard. Taking a deep breath, she continued, “from Sgt. Moore, and from the vampire, that it would go a long way towards helping him figuring out a cure.”“Oh,” Gabriel said, nodding his head thoughtfully. “Smart.”“How do we kill it?” asked Mac. “Can we shoot it?”Gabriel shook his head. “If the mythology for vampires is anywhere near as accurate as it is for zombies, that won’t work.
He turned his single eye and glared at Gabriel . “Give in to your nature,” it whispered, hoarsely. “Kill me.”Something about the creature’s willingness to die bothered Gabriel , sending a shiver down his spine. He looked to the others, and they nodded their heads solemnly.“You have to,” Aliyah agreed. “If your theory is right, then this saves everyone.”Gabriel turned back to the creature and found it still glaring at him with that deep, red eye. Gabriel raised his chair leg and placed it, spiked end down, on the creature’s chest. He took a deep breath, raised his baseball bat up into the air, and then brought it down like a hammer onto a nail.“Can I just say that that was not what I was expecting,” Jake said.Gabriel wiped vampire blood from his face, and then stared at his hand for a long moment. Dropping his hand he turned and looked emotionlessly at Jake. “What were you expecting?”She shook her head. “I don’t know. I thought vampires were supposed to be… like… cultured? And
“Should we split up?” offered Jay, spinning a circle to look around as if the pair might be hiding just out of sight.Aliyah shook her head. “It’s getting late. It’ll be dark soon. We need to get out of here and look for somewhere safe to stay.”Suddenly a shrill, high-pitched scream rent the air. It didn’t come from very far away, and they were quickly able to pinpoint its location.“This way!” cried Gabriel , as he took off for the woods. He could hear the others falling into step behind him but he was not in the mood to wait. He burst past tree after tree, but after only a minute of running he was forced to a halt.Through the spaces in the trees ahead of him he could see a small clearing. Gabriel and Daina were both in the clearing. Daina was on her backside on the ground as though she had just tripped and fallen backwards. A now fully dead zombie lay on the ground beside her. Gabriel stood only a couple feet away, and seemed absurdly calm for the moment. He stood completely still
Gabriel paused and for a moment there was quiet. Gabriel couldn’t bGabriel eve what he was hearing. He glanced around to the others, and saw that they had similar levels of disbelief readable on their faces.“Why would you keep this a secret?” Jay asked. “The vampires and the order?”Gabriel shrugged. “Old rules of the church. My understanding is that they did not want to cause any panic among the flock, especially considering we seemed to have the situation under control. And we did have it under control. Until Paul and his compatriots unleashed this Hell upon the earth.”Gabriel , who finally had his limbs freed, crossed his arms and cast Gabriel a doubtful look. “And why did you keep it from us?”The priest frowned, his entire face creasing with the look. “I get it,” he said. “You don’t think you can trust me anymore. You’re no longer sure if I should be allowed to travel with you. But you need me. You should really understand that now more than ever. I am a warrior who has been
They were all covered in blood.Jake gasped. Jay and Aliyah’s mouths both fell open like their hinges had been broken. Gabriel’s eyes grew wet but his face grew stern.“Daina, no…” Jake said, but knew immediately that any words were inadequate in that moment.“You need to leave me here,” said Daina, surprisingly stoically.“No,” Jake protested, shaking her head. “No. We can’t.”“You have to,” Daina said. She stepped away from Gabriel and placed her hand on the other woman’s shoulder. “I am a danger to you now.”“No!” Now Jake was shouting, and she backed away from the others. “No! You haven’t turned yet! We can’t just give up on you! We don’t know that you’ll turn!”“We know that she’ll turn,” Gabriel said softly, in as calming a tone as he could muster. “We just don’t know when.”“No! I don’t bGabriel eve that. I refuse to bGabriel eve that! There must be something we can do. A cure. There’s gotta be a cure. Gabriel must know a cure. Gabriel knows all this shit. He must know a cu