Blood Cell (18 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Carlos was screaming, and using his good arm to press down on the ragged wound. Williams slumped against the wall, barely standing and holding his head. Josh tended to Carlos.

“Get your hand away. I gotta see it.”

Josh pulled apart the torn fabric of Carlos’s shirt. Norris had stabbed at Carlos’s wound, but the gauze protected it. He did put a deep gash to the left of the gauze, for about three inches across the centre of Carlos’s chest. He was bleeding profusely from the jagged, ugly wound.

Behind the locked double-doors, Sally screamed. Josh pulled away from Carlos and pressed his ear to the door.

“Your master?” she screamed.

“He’s waiting for you,” replied Norris. The steel door was thick and heavy, but Norris spoke boastfully, loud enough to be heard. “Once I deliver you to him, he shall give me his strength.”

“Jesus Christ,” Josh whispered under his breath.

“What the fuck is he saying?” Asked Carlos. Josh shushed him.

“You’ll make a lovely dessert, my dear. The master will have to reward me then.” Sally said something that was muffled by the doors, and the conversation faded, either due to distance or quieting voices.

Josh looked to Carlos and Williams, wide-eyed with disbelief. “He’s a fucking Renfield.”

“A what?” Williams asked, still rubbing his head.

“Norris. A Renfield. A familiar. He’s gonna hand over Sally to that thing out there and hope he gets turned into a vampire.”

Josh returned to Carlos. Gently pulling the makeshift sling off Carlos’ shoulder, he started to sop up the blood. “Guess that explains why he was weird when we found her,” said Carlos. Carlos was obviously trying to play tough and keep up the conversation like nothing was wrong, but every time Josh touched his wounds, Carlos’ fists squeezed tighter and shook with the pain.

“Actually,” said Williams, “I think they were doin’ it.”

“Wow, powers of deduction like that and they didn’t let you into detective school,” Said Josh, trying to play it light for Carlos’s sake.

“So we going to save your girl?” Asked Carlos. “Again?”

“The only way out there now would be back through ad seg,” said Williams.

“Again?” Carlos chuckled, but that only stretched his wounds and made him wince. “Getting real tired of all the running around in here.”

“Well maybe if you didn’t give Norris the keys we’d be able to take the short way,” Josh said, as he finished wrapping gauze around Carlos’s chest.

“So we go back the other way, and run into the same damn army of vampires that chased us back here. Then what?”

“I’m sorry,” asked Williams, “what do you mean ‘army of vampires?’”

“Turns out our friend with the fangs was contagious. Everyone he bit got up and started walking around about fifteen minutes ago,” said Josh.

“Then we definitely gotta get out of here,” said Williams. “The sun’ll be up soon. When that happens, this hallway’s the darkest place in the whole pod. They’ll be coming here whether we’re present or not. I suggest not.”

“Right now they’re locked out on the other side of ad seg, and they can’t do the floating-on-fog thing that Big Daddy can do,” Josh said, thinking it through. “...But Norris is about to hand over the keys and then we’re right fucked.”

“Better get moving,” said Williams.

“Easy for you to say,” grunted Carlos, struggling to his feet.

“You religious?” asked Josh.

“Catholic,” said Carlos with a shrug.

“Then take this,” Josh told him, holding out the plastic cross. “And don’t get pissy when I say you’re walking in the middle of the group.”

They walked back down the long, damp hallway in single file, and without incident. As they opened the entrance to solitary once again, the silence of the corridor gave way to the sound of an angry mob. On the other side of the solitary wing, the gang of newborn vampires was still lined up at the bars, screaming and growling and aching for some food.

“Jesus,” said Williams. “There’s a lot of them.”

“I’m no math whiz,” said Carlos, “But I figure about thirty died in the riot. The rest died since.”

“So there might be ninety vampires on the other side of this gate? Wonderful.”

“On the plus side,” said Josh, “they’re easy to kill. The stake goes through ‘em like butter.”

“Oh,” said Williams, “how many have you killed?”

Josh scratched at the stubble on his chin. “Just the one.”

“Because that one back there—Big Daddy you called him—was a strong bastard. And if that part’s contagious too--”

“The other one must be a lot older or something. These guys can’t turn into clouds or bats or anything. The bars can keep them back. I think they might be weak since they’re so new.”

The three men walked out in front of the bars, where the vampires could see them. The crowd cheered like a concert audience seeing the headliners walk on stage.

“...mmmeat...” hissed one.

“Blood,” said another. A dozen of them, the front row, reached through the bars with one or both hands, scratching at the air between them and the humans. Josh watched them sticking their arms through the gate, and came up with an idea.

“Can you open these doors from in here? Without the keys?”

“The desk has manual controls, should work on back-up power but I haven’t that” said Williams.

“OK. Get over there.”

“What are you going to do?” asked both Carlos and Williams together.

Josh ran the pad of his thumb over the point of his stake. “I have a plan. But I need that cross back.”

Carlos handed him the cross. Williams went behind the guard desk and sat down. After a thought, he tossed his stake to Carlos, who managed to catch it in his good hand. Josh looked to Williams, then to Carlos. “You open it when I say, exactly. And you get my back in case this doesn’t work.” Both men nodded.

“Open the first gate.”

Williams pulled a switch, and the inside gate clicked free of its lock. Josh slid it to the side. The vampires got louder. Josh raised the cross and stepped into the antechamber between the gates. He took a step toward the beasts. They jammed their arms through the bars, swiping at him. He deflected the nearest hand with the cross, and the vampire’s skin made an audible hiss and spat out smoke as it burned from the contact.

There were a dozen vampires jammed up against the bars, each forcing one or both hands toward Josh.

“Unlock the second gate.”

“Are you crazy?” called Williams.

“Do it, said Josh, using the cross the push aside the vampires’ arms and step even closer to the bars.

The lock clicked open. As soon as he heard the sound, Josh lunged into the sweeping arms, and grabbed the bars of the gate. As quickly and powerfully as he could, Josh forced the gate to slide open. The arms got caught between the bars of the sliding door and the stationary bars that were secured to the floor and ceiling. Just as Josh had planned, the door trapped five vampires as it jammed to a stop. He forced his foot between the bars to keep the door open, and set out on the offensive. He jammed the cross into the forehead of the closest vampire, and the man screamed in agony. His face burned and blistered, then went up in flame. The fire spread almost instantly over his shoulders and chest, and then vampire collapsed in a pile of ash that spread over his neighbours, shocking them while also covering them in grey ash.

Josh moved on to the next closest vampire, and held the cross against his chest. It howled and flailed, but couldn’t use its arms to stop Josh. In about three seconds, it was up in flames.

Josh didn’t want to have to move because he feared losing his grip on the cage door. So he reached, extending himself, to hold the cross against another vampire’s arm. The arm started to burn, and fell off, but as it did so the vampire pulled away, and survived.

One of the other vampires broke through the crowd and rushed at Josh. He instinctively jammed the stake between the bars, and let the vampire run right into it, impaling himself. He exploded in ash, but his momentum carried that ash right into Josh’s face, blinding him. He lost his grip on the door. It first slid closed, allowing the last trapped vampires to free themselves, then started to slide open again as the vampire mob saw an opportunity.

“Get outta there!” shouted Carlos. Josh was still trying to see, but he knew enough to jump backward, out of the entranceway. Te vampires threw the first gate open and pushed through the opening in a huge mass, only ten feet from Josh.

“Lock it down!” Carlos screamed at Williams. He threw the switch, and the inner door started to slide shut. Carlos ran to the door and forced it on its way. A vampire, who used to be on Carlos’s shift at the phone company, squeezed through before the gate shut. The rest of the crowd was held back by the gate.

The vampire jumped on Josh and tackled him. Carlos raised his stake and rushed toward the creature. As he did, the vampire looked up, ready for him, nostrils flaring. It stared at Carlos’s bloody bandages.

“Blood...” it hissed, and jumped off Josh to attack Carlos. Carlos swung the stake, but hit the vampire on the shoulder. It slapped the stake away, and leaned in toward Carlos’s neck. Williams jumped on the vampire’s back, putting it into a bear hug to try and lift it away from Carlos.

Josh wiped the ash from his face and opened his eyes. On the floor of ad seg, he saw something that made him smile. He got to his feet and rushed to help Williams get the monster under control.

“Take him to the open cells,” Josh grunted.

“Why?” Asked Williams, looking over his shoulder at the cells that Thomas had kicked open. He smiled too. A long, pale line of pure daylight was shining from each of the open doors.

Together, the two men carried the thrashing vampire into what had been Sally’s cell. They walked over the remains of the steel door and right up onto the bed. The vampire opened his mouth wide, craning his neck to bite at Josh. Williams grabbed him by the forehead as both men forced the vampire’s face against the bars of the small, east-facing window.

The vampire’s pupils shrunk to pinpoints and he wailed in pain, as the pale light of the blue sky sunk into his skin. The sun was not quite risen, but the sky was alight with predawn. Most of the storm clouds had passed, but there were still some lingering. Five seconds passed, with Josh and Williams using every muscle they had to restrain the panicking vampire. The sunlight wasn’t killing it. Jesus, thought Josh, if sunlight doesn’t work, we’re all dead. Another five seconds, and the vampire’s skin started to blister.

“Hold on,” said Josh, more to himself than to Williams. “Just... hold... on.”

Carlos came into the room and immediately got the idea. He joined his compatriots in trapping the vampire against the window. Ten seconds later, tendrils of pale grey smoke started to rise off the vampire, as he held his eyes shut and shook against his captors. Then there was an orange flash, and a sliver of the sun appeared on the horizon. The vampire went up in flames. The three men all let go and stepped back, watching the vampire collapse in on himself, and disappear. All that was left was a lot of dust floating in the column of light.

*****

Outside the prison, Virginia Elliot was still wide awake at five in the morning. The cops had finally showed up a few hours earlier, but for some reason they weren’t storming the prison. Which meant Virginia wasn’t recording any footage. It had been a terrible night spent sitting in her cold, uncomfortable car, brightened up by the occasional visit from a surly guard telling her to buzz off.

She was currently sitting on the hood of her car, using a pair of binoculars to try and spy into C Pod. It was hopeless, since the prisoners had blanketed the windows before she even got there. Except for the windows on the end of the pod. That, she had deduced, was the solitary wing, meaning anyone locked in there obviously hadn’t been a part of the riot.

Still, it was better than nothing.

She had just about given up, when she saw movement. One of the windows on the end. Maybe a sleeping inmate was just waking up. She raised the binoculars.

It was a fight! Finally, some action. She watched as two men wrestled a third up against the bars. Two on one. Really fair fight, guys.

Then a fourth guy came into the tiny window. As they jostled, Virginia thought she saw a guard’s uniform on one of the attackers. There was a guard helping two inmates pin down a third!

She swapped out the binocs for her camera, popping the lens cap as she raised it. This lens wasn’t as good as binoculars, but it would have to do. Her own curiosity was less important than documentation. She started snapping photos.

Then it got weird.

The man in the middle of it all started to smoke like his clothes were on fire. But the men still held him tight. The man’s face seemed to be almost melting. And then his skin burst into flames. As the gang backed off, the flames died away and where there had been a man only a second before, now was a crumbling pile of ashes, then nothing.

She laid back against the windshield, dumbstruck by what she had seen, trying to cobble some sense out of it. She was only shaken out of her thoughts a few seconds later, when the sun crested the horizon and shot blinding rays of light into her eyes.