16Please respect copyright.PENANAPNUCmOeszO
I was sitting in the passenger seat of my uncle’s Tahoe. Along with the rest of the paladins, I headed for my first combat operation. During the time I was imprisoned, the situation with Bill Pack and Steve Knight changed dramatically. Everything seemed to suggest that Bill turned his friend into a vampire. They killed two more people and, according to the witnesses, it was Knight who had shown greater cruelty. Thus, our rescue mission had turned into a punitive expedition once and for all.
Through his informants, Geek had found the house, where the two friends were hiding. The culprits weren’t there, so Geek mounted a webcam on the lamppost not far from their lair. This time there was no point in sending Stoker to collect evidence. No one doubted Bill and Steve’s guilt. That’s why as soon as Geek’s webcam caught their car approaching the house, the paladins hit the road. We arrived at the place just fifteen minutes later.
I examined our small, yet very dangerous squad with genuine pleasure. All wore awesome combat suits and stony expressions on their faces. The paladins seemed to adopt Rettle’s habits for a time of combat operations. Each of them now radiated reserved coolness. I tried to keep a poker face too, but most probably failed. I was overflowing with some stupid childish excitement. For me, it was all still just a cool adventure, like something I’d seen on TV.
“Rettle and Lumberjack go first, then I, then you,” uncle Mike pointed at me. “Stoker brings up the rear. Everyone already knows what to do. And for you, Sam, the main task is not to get in the way and keep your eyes open. If something goes wrong, run to the cars and drive to the headquarters. If you decide to stay and try to help us, I’ll exclude you from paladins for good. This is serious and I don’t have time to babysit you. Understood?”
I nodded.
“Let’s go then.”
Our aim was the abandoned five-story building. We approached the entrance. Lumberjack opened the door and let Rettle pass forward. The rest followed him. Two flickering, dim light bulbs illuminated a long corridor with rows of doors on both sides. We checked the first floor, then the second and third. There was no one there. The building turned out to be very ramshackle. Here and there the walls were dilapidated and there were holes in the floor, so we had to move very carefully.
We left another abandoned apartment and were about to approach the stairs to the fourth floor. Suddenly I noticed a shadow flash across the opposite wall. I turned my head and set my eyes on the landing connecting two stairs, leading to the next floor. There stood a man. Having noticed our combat procession he froze for a second, but sooner than any of us had time to react the stranger pulled his gun and started to shoot. A blood-curdling scream erupted from his mouth, showing huge vampire fangs.
Uncle Mike managed to press me against the wall, and the bullet whooshed past me. The shooter rushed upstairs. We were about to run after him, but suddenly the doors that had previously been locked started to slam from all sides, and to my great horror the corridor became filled with at least a dozen vampires, ravenously baring their fangs. All of them responded to that terrifying howl.
“In a circle,” Mike shouted.
The paladins formed a tight circle, closing in around me, and pulling out their guns. And I stood alone, like a moron, in the center, squeezed in from all sides by the paladins' backs. Now I understood why Rettle didn’t like firearms. Before the paladins managed to fire one shot each, the crowd pounced on them from all directions. Someone’s gun turned out to be blocked by the vampires’ hands, and the other one was knocked out and fell to the floor.
“Retreat,” Rettle commanded.
Even in this situation, his voice sounded infinitely calm. The moment our squad tried to fight its way back, new waves of attackers fell upon us from the direction of both stairs. Now there were not less than three dozen of them. The coach unsheathed his swords, Lumberjack snatched his axe. And then sheer pandemonium broke out around me. Swinging his swords with incredible speed Rettle advanced forward, toward the stairs to the fourth floor. The attackers were flying away from him in all directions. Thin and resilient spurts of black vampire blood danced in the air, turning the scene into something even more insane.
Several vampires at once ran out of an apartment and pounced on Lumberjack. He handled his axe with such force that as it was plunged into the doorframe several times, he knocked pieces of concrete out of the wall. The slaughterhouse I got into scared me to death. At least a dozen bodies had already been lying on the floor. All walls were decorated with blood-black stains. Several drops of black liquid got on my face too. At one moment I met the eye of a young vampire. He looked not older than me. His fangs were rapaciously clanking in the air and his eyes were overfilled with rage. Lumberjack’s axe went into his skull.
This sight made me sick. The lumps of pink vomit picturesquely sprawled across the front of my supercool superhero suit. I no longer felt like a dashing paladin. There was nothing heroic under that kevlar futuristic armor anymore. Just a sixteen-year-old girl who absolutely wrongly considered herself mature enough for such scenes.
“Sam!”
My uncle’s yell snapped me out of my stupor. He elbowed me in the side and motioned toward the stairs to the second floor. The number of attackers from that side thinned out appreciably. Mike took my gun out of the holster and put it in my other hand.
“Force your way through to the exit. Shoot nonstop. Run and don’t look back!”
I was still in a state of light shock, so I continued just staying there, holding a gun in my hand.
“Move! Hurry!” uncle Mike shouted into my ear and clapped me hard on the back.
His clap brought me to life. I rushed forward, spasmodically pulling the trigger. My hand did its thing automatically as Geek had taught me. I didn’t want to kill at all and least of all to look at it. Hacking my way through by showering the enemies with silver bullets I crossed the corridor and was already going downstairs.
As soon as I approached the first door on the second floor, a huge vampire pounced on me from the side. With a powerful push, he pressed me into the opposite wall so hard that my fingers unclenched and my gun fell to the floor. I tried to bend down to pick it up but the enemy grabbed me by the neck intending to knee me in the face. Recalling Rettle’s lessons I put my hands forward shielding myself from the blow and once the danger had passed, I sharply jerked my elbow to the left, hitting the attacker between the legs.
He bellowed with pain. I dashed to the side still hoping to grab the gun but the vampire managed to catch my ankle so I flew forward, sprawling on the floor. But luckily for me, my right hand landed just an inch away from the gun. I jerked myself forward, grabbed the gun, rolled onto my back and lodged three bullets right in the enemy’s heart.
Before I had time to recollect myself someone knocked the gun out of my hand, grabbed me by the shoulders and tried to press me to the floor. I raised my head and saw two vampire fangs in a predatory grin right in front of me. I hit the attacker in the head with my boot tip. He let go of my shoulders, giving me the opportunity to grasp his ankles and strike him down to the ground next to me.
We started wrestling. Rolling on the floor we moved out of the corridor and into an apartment that lacked the door. Finally, I landed on top of him. My attacker was a boy about my age with crazy eyes and disheveled fiery-red hair. It was Bill Pack, searching for whom we came to this damned house. I started to hammer my fists into the enemy’s head. With each strike, I heard a thump, but I didn’t pay any attention to it.
At last, I took a swing and hit the vampire on the head with all my might. And only then did I realize what sound that was. The floor that we were laying on was already crumbling and my last blow was fatal to it. With a loud crack, we fell down. Having flown about ten feet, I found myself in the apartment on the lower floor. I got up off my knees and looked at the prostrate enemy. Black blood stains spread across his white t-shirt. A rebar that broke through the concrete must have pierced through his back during the fall.
Through the clouds of dust still whirling in the air, I managed to make out the outlines of the room. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed some movement to my right. I was about to lunge at the enemy but stopped dead. In the corner, there sat a girl, hugging her knees, pressed to her chest. She was about eighteen and resembled a frightened hare. The girl tried to squeeze herself into the corner as deep as possible, looking at me with her eyes broadened with fear.
A thick chain was fastened around her ankle. The girl wore only denim shorts and a dirty t-shirt. Her legs and arms were also dirty as well as her dark messy hair. I couldn’t see her face – only her frightened eyes and knees pressed up to her very nose.
“No, no, no,” I started speaking, raising my hands and showing that I’m unarmed. “Don’t be afraid! I won't hurt you!”
The girl started churning her legs, trying to move away from me even farther, but her back was already pressed against the wall, so her bare feet were only sliding over the floor.
“It’s ok. Don’t be scared. I won’t hurt you. I want to help.”
I had already approached her and knelt down.
“Are you hurt?”
I touched her knee very carefully. The girl instantly jerked aside. I brought her chained ankle closer to me. The girl jerked again trying to pull her leg out of my hands. I unclenched my fingers right away and let go of her.
“Calm down, calm down. I want to free you. I need to examine the lock. Okay? I only examine the lock,” I put out my hand again but decided not to touch her just yet.
The girl didn’t answer anything but didn’t start pressing her body into the wall either. I took her foot very carefully. She jerked again but this time didn’t try to break free from my hands. The lock turned out to be very simple. I took a lock pick out of my pocket and put it into the keyhole.
“Sam.”
I was distracted by Rettle’s voice, sounded somewhere behind the wall.
“I’m here,” I responded.
At the next second a crash of a door being knocked out was heard and the coach entered the room. Rettle hardly glanced at the poor girl and immediately said, “Sam, move away from her.”
“What? Why?” I asked in confusion.
“Move away from her,” Rettle repeated in the same lifeless manner.
The coach’s voice had a magical convincing skill. I got up off my knees and took several steps back. For a second, the girl’s eyes seemed to become even more frightened, but this time it was because I was leaving her.
“She’s a vampire. Newly converted,” said Rettle.
“What? How? But she’s on a chain!”
“See for yourself.”
I took my phone out of my pocket, activated an infrared camera and directed it at the girl. Damn it! Her silhouette on the screen turned purple.
“So…” I stammered. “So what? We are vampires too! It doesn’t mean she’s bad.”
I looked at the girl. She was so scared and so defenseless. I was almost ready to fight with Rettle over her.
“She’s newly converted.”
“So what? You are also converted, aren’t you!”
“After conversion, a vampire is tormented by a terrible, uncontrolled hunger.”
“Sam, are you alright?” my uncle entered the room. “What’s happening here?”
He closely examined the room and the captive and then leaned toward Rettle and started whispering something in his ear. Rettle answered him back in the same whispering manner.
“Hey! You are not alone here! I’m a paladin too!” I raised my voice at them.
“Calm down, Sam,” my uncle answered. “I’m on your side. Unchain the girl.”
I happily got down to my knees again and started tinkering with the lock. But first I glanced at Rettle. He looked closely into the girl’s eyes. One suspicious move and Rettle would chop her head off with one clean stroke. I was nervous and, as ill luck would have it, couldn’t open the lock. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Rettle was already reaching for his sword.
I guess he was about to break the chain rather than the girl’s neck, but anyway my uncle stopped him. Finally, the lock yielded and I removed the chain from the girl’s ankle. She wasn’t going to rush at me at all. She didn’t even move. Only after I stood up and offered her my hands, did she put her hands in mine very slowly and sheepishly and got to her feet with my help. She took some hesitant steps forward like Bambi who had just learned to stand on his own two feet. For the first time, I was able to catch her eye. Wow… Those were very beautiful eyes. The ones you can drown in.
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