She remained frozen for only a second more before sliding down the rafter and descending to the ground. Mollie fell to her knees at the edge of the hayloft as Mike and the man rolled across the top of a cage and tumbled off the side.
They punched and clawed at each other as they hit the ground. The occupant of the cage lunged forward and snatched the man’s coat. He yanked their captor back and pinned him against the bars as the man was lifting the rifle to bash Mike in the face with it.
The gun fell from his hands as he reached behind him to claw at the hands of the prisoner holding him. The prisoner snarled as Mike pulled back his fist and smashed it into their captor’s chest. Mollie slapped her hands over her mouth to stifle her scream as bone crunched and blood slid from the corner of the security officer’s mouth.
Once, caught up in the clamoring excitement spreading around her school, she’d gone with a group of kids to the local park and listened to the chants of “Fight! Fight! Fight!” as two idiots pummeled each other.
The only difference was, when those kids hit each other, their fists hadn’t goneintothe chest of the other. She wanted to deny it because it couldnotbe possible, but her eyes were telling her Mike’s hand was now buried up to his wrist in the cruel bastard’s chest.
What’s going on? What have I gotten involved in? What are some of these things? What isMike?
She had no idea what the answers to any of those questions were as her mind labored to process what she was seeing. She didn’t want to look anymore, yet she couldn’t turn away.
Mike dug deeper into the vamp’s chest; he almost had his hand around the Savage’s heart as the bastard lunged against the vampire holding him, but the vamp in the cage didn’t let go.
“Mike, look out!” Jack shouted from another cage.
Plunging forward, Mike enclosed his hand on the Savage’s heart as someone leapt onto his back. The fingers digging into his neck pulled back his flesh, and blood ran free. The animalistic sounds the Savage on his back issued became more excited when the scent of his blood hit the air.
Mike tore the heart from the Savage’s chest and reeled backward. Throwing his weight back, he smashed the killer on his back into another cage before leaning away and doing it again, but the vampire only grunted and dug in deeper.
The occupant within the cage, a human, cowered in the corner. He had to find another vampire; they would tear into anyone who had imprisoned them in this place and pounce on their chance to feed. The vamp who had caught the Savage with the gun didn’t care he was dead as he drank his blood.
“Mike! There’s another one on your right!” Doug shouted.
Despite his increasing unease over this situation, relief filled him at the sound of Doug’s voice; his friend was alive. The breath of the one on his back tickled his neck as fangs scratched his flesh. Mike’s pulse skyrocketed when he realized it was going to bite him, and if that happened, he was as good as dead. The agony of having his blood drained unwillingly from his body would most likely render him almost useless.
He clasped the Savage’s hair as its fangs started to pierce his flesh. He yanked its long hair forward so violently, he tore a handful of it from its skull. He realized the Savage on his back was a woman when she squealed; her fingers shredded his skin as she scrambled for purchase while Mike continued to drag her over his back.
“All three of the others are coming!” Jack yelled at the same time Doug shouted, “Move to your left!”
Mike succeeded in dragging the woman over his shoulder as he staggered to the left. Grasping hands stretched through the bars of the cage he crashed into. Inhuman, ravenous sounds issued from within as the vampire in the cage slammed the woman against the bars.
She screeched and tried to pull away, but the imprisoned vamp yanked her arm into the cage with enough force to break it before sinking his fangs into her wrist. The woman’s squeals went on for a few seconds more before her legs gave out while the vamp greedily consumed her blood.
With his back against the cage, Mike rolled around to the side of it as two Savages pounced on top of it and a third stalked him from the other side. Turning, Mike ran behind the cage and into the maze of them. He had to figure out a way to kill off these last three before more Savages arrived, as he seriously doubted the five who had entered the barn were the only ones behind this operation.
Metal clattered behind him, and when he glanced back, he spotted the vamps running across the tops of the cages in pursuit of him while the other remained on the ground. Those on top of the cages stayed to the ones housing humans as vampires crouched in wait for them in the others.
Mike came around the side of one of the cages and ran back toward the ladder. As he sprinted through the maze of bars, he spotted Mollie kneeling next to the Savage he’d killed. She had her hands in his pockets. She pulled something free and shoved it into the pocket of her jeans; it was only then he realized she clutched the rifle.
Rising to her feet, she leveled the gun at his chest. For a second, Mike was sure she would shoot him, and he wouldn’t blame her after what she’d witnessed, but then she shifted the rifle and fired at something over his head. A screech filled the air, and Mike turned to find one of the Savage’s clutching its chest while it tumbled off a cage. The shot had struck its heart.
Mollie spun the rifle toward the other man chasing Mike and fired. The vamp had been poised to leap, and she caught it in mid-launch when she fired. Off the mark, this shot pierced the man’s shin; he howled in response.
Is it a man?She pondered as he fell to the ground only feet away from her. Well, it was obviously male, but was ithuman? And that’s where she would have to answer with a big oldno. But what exactly was it, and what was Mike?
She refused to look at the creature still drinking the blood of the bastard who’d nearly killed her in the hayloft, but the disgusting slurping sounds were all she heard.
Are they vampires?I did remove wooden bullets from that guy’s pockets, and they are loaded into the rifle…
No, that’s insane. There is no such thing as vampires. This isn’t a horror or romance novel; no one is going to sparkle, and no cross will deter these beasts. Then what are they?
She might be okay living the rest of her life never knowing the answer to that question. Unfortunately, she didn’t think she’d have the option.
Mike stalked the man Mollie had shot in the shin and cornered him against one of the cages. With no time to waste, he seized the man’s throat, lifted him, and twisted his head around. He tore his head from his shoulders and lobbed it aside as the nearby humans sobbed.
He ran back out of the maze of cages and found Mollie where he’d left her. She had the rifle against her shoulder as she surveyed the barn for the remaining Savage.
