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“I’ll drive.” Jonas took the disk without missing a step. “I’ve probably had more experience in this sort of situation than you.”
Of that, there was no doubt. I’d driven it up here easily enough, but our chances of getting out of here alive could only be improved with someone capable of manually driving the thing at the wheel.
I threw the rucksack into the vehicle and leapt in after it. Jonas did the same, then hit the door release—but even as they began to slide shut, a boiling mass of hate and desperation broke out of the trees and came at us.
I grabbed the flares and ignited them. The fierce light blinded me as much as the vampires and I blinked rapidly, trying to get my vision back even as I threw two flares to either side of the ATV and the final one over the back, providing an uneven circle of light around the vehicle. It wouldn’t be enough, but it would at least keep them at bay long enough for the doors to close and for Jonas to boot up the engine.
Once again, vampires threw themselves at the flares, covering the deadly light with the weight of their remains. It was an action I’d never witnessed before, and it spoke of their desperation—or at least of the desperation of those who now appeared to be in league with them.
The doors finally slipped into place and locked. At the
same time, two of the flares were extinguished, and the vampires hit us—literally.
The sheer force of their onslaught was almost tornado-like; the big vehicle rocked with not only the impetus of their movements, but the weight of their blows. It might be military in design, but it was styled more like a troop carrier than an armored vehicle. It had not been designed to counter this sort of attack.
“For Rhea’s sake, get us out of here!”
“I’m trying, but these things aren’t race pods.”
The rocking grew more violent and darkness reclaimed the night as the last of the flares became buried under a sea of burning, stinking flesh. Several vampires hit the windshield, their emaciated faces filled with desperate fury as they clawed and smashed at the glass. It held up, but I had to wonder for how long.
As the ATV’s engine finally roared to life, something hit the roof so hard it actually buckled. I slid down in the seat and started loading weapons. There was another thump, then a metal strut speared into the cabin, the thick point barely missing my leg as it smashed into the center console. Hands clawed at the broken roof structure, peeling the metal back as easily as butter. I raised two guns and started firing. The sound was deafening, and metal ricocheted inside the cabin as much as outside, cutting everything in the near vicinity—the vampires, the ATV’s innards, and the two of us.
It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. Nothing except getting out of here.
Jonas threw the vehicle into gear, and the ATV lurched forward. The vampires crowding the front of the vehicle were crushed under its heavy treads, but neither those clawing at the windshield nor those trying to squeeze through the peeled back roofline were shaken loose. I kept firing. There was nothing else I could do.
With an ominous crack, a multitude of hairline fractures began to race across the windshield’s face, until they formed a thick web that was almost impossible to see through.
And still the vampires thumped it. A hole appeared, small at first but getting larger with each blow, until it was big enough for a fist to get through. Needle-sharp claws slashed left and right, desperately seeking a target. Steering one-handed, Jonas grabbed a gun, flicked off the safety, and began to fire. The windshield completely shattered and glass sprayed everywhere, inside and out, cutting whatever the metal shards had failed to touch.
One of my guns clicked over to empty. I threw it down and grabbed another. The second gun did the same. I grabbed the last of the loaded weapons and kept on firing.
The vampires seemed endless. They just kept coming at us as the ATV rumbled on. It was gathering speed as it bounced down the old road, but it still wasn’t moving anywhere near quickly enough. At the rate we were going, the vampires would have it—and us—in pieces before it reached full speed.
“Has this thing got lights?” I had to yell to get over the tornado of sound created by the vampires, the guns, and the engine’s clattering.
“Yes, but it’s solar-powered, and while the batteries will get us back to Central, using the lights will drain them far too quickly.”
“If we don’t use them, we won’t need to worry about getting to Central, because we won’t get out of these damn mountains alive.”
Fingers appeared along the nearest side pillar, and a second later, a vampire swung himself around like a rubber band and arrowed feetfirst into the ATV. I yelped and flung myself back, only to be stopped by the sturdy seat. He thudded into my chest, the force of the blow so great that the air left my lungs in a gigantic whoosh. I couldn’t breathe; I could barely even think. He screamed and twisted upright, his hands grasping for my neck. Despite the burning in my lungs and the lights dancing in front of my eyes, I somehow flicked my knives down into my hands and slashed them across the middle of his gaunt body. He didn’t immediately react, and, for a heartbeat, I thought the haze of pain and lack of air had caused me to miss. Then his hands slithered from my neck as the top part of his body fell one way and the bottom another.
I coughed and desperately tried to suck in air and ease the burning in my lungs. The effort caused red-hot lances of pain to shoot through the rest of me. I’d broken a rib—but right now that was the least of my problems.
More vampires came at us, from both the front of the ATV and the torn roof. I guess we were lucky in that the space was confined; only a few of them could squeeze into the holes they’d created, but that didn’t stop the rest of them from trying. The sheer weight of numbers now on the ATV had to be at least partially responsible for the slow pickup of speed. I guess we had to thank Rhea that they all were more intent on getting their share of available blood rather than actually thinking; if they’d become one with the night and filled this space with the weight of them, they might very well have suffocated us.
My guns clicked over to empty again. A second later, Jonas’s gun did the same. He cursed, threw it down, then hit a switch. Light bit into the darkness, clean and bright and deadly. The vampires in and around the vehicle became ash in an instant, and the ATV lurched ahead with a suddenness that flung me forward. I smacked a hand against the dash to stop my head from doing the same, and watched the black tide of vampires—some burning, some not—peel away from the vehicle, leaving the road clear.
We’d done it. Against all the odds, we’d actually gotten out of the bunker alive and managed to fight our way free from the vampires.
Now all we had to do was make it home.
Chapter 13
The ATV died five miles out of Central, but by then it didn’t matter. The vampires had given up pursuit a mile or so after we’d left the Broken Mountains; on the wide-open freeway, the old ATV was simply too fast for them.
Once the vehicle had lumbered to a halt, Jonas forced the doors open, then climbed out. He didn’t look at me or acknowledge me in any way, but simply stood in the middle of the road, sucking in air like a man on the verge of suffocating. Fighting the fury, I sensed. Fighting the need to lash out and kill.
