Survival and Sacrifice Read online

between a man, a lizard, and a rat. It balanced on its toes as a long, sinuous tail lashed around behind it. Screaming, it rushed at them. Sunny fired three times in quick succession; two of the 9mm Parabellum slugs slammed into its chest while the third ripped through its throat. It fell forward even as three more creatures charged up the stairs. Eile spun around and squeezed off three shots; two trios of 5.56mm NATO ammunition squarely hit their marks and threw a pair of the creatures back, but the third ducked and the rounds only grazed it. Sunny turned and fired thrice more; two of the bullets went through the neck while the third lodged in the skull. Eile sidestepped as it fell past her and collapsed in front of its companion.

  Eile gave Sunny a thumbs-up, and she returned a big goofy grin. She then sobered and gestured that she would open the door. Eile nodded and raised the rifle, sighting on the entry. Sunny flattened herself against the wall beside the knob, turned it and opened it a crack, then grasped the door and threw it open. In the hallway stood another creature. As it leapt, Eile fired and it collapsed backward.

  "Go!"

  Sunny leapt into the corridor, planted a foot on its chest, and shot it once in the head.

  "Clear!"

  Eile ran through the entry and slammed the door closed behind her. They charged down the passage to the opening into the Grand Hall. Across the way sat a door that led into the second level of the library. They slowed as they reached the exit, but they didn't stop. Sunny approached on the right and Eile on the left as before, and again Sunny crouched aiming left as Eile stood over her aiming right.

  "Clear!" she said.

  "Clear!" Sunny squeaked.

  They dashed across the Hall and flattened themselves against the library wall on either side of the door, their weapons pointed up. The wall curved away in both directions, towards the master suite on Sunny's side, and Differel's suite and Henry's bedroom on hers.

  Eile glanced at Sunny, who nodded. They both took a step to ease along the wall towards Henry, when a figure emerged from the north stairwell behind Sunny. They turned and leveled their weapons, ready to fire, but deflected them when they saw it was Holt. He had an L7A2 general purpose machine gun, with a belt feeding into it from a pack on his back.

  "Geezus, Giles!" Eile hissed as he lowered his weapon.

  "Are we glad to see you!" Sunny squealed.

  He jogged up to them.

  "Where's Differel?" Eile asked.

  "Securing the shelter; she ordered me to fetch Master Henry."

  "Then let's get him!" Sunny quipped.

  Holt nodded. "I'll take point." He moved ahead and they followed him around the wall. The hall at that end terminated in an alcove that gave access to Differel's rooms, the children's bedroom, and the nurse's room, as well as another entrance into the library.

  "I'll wait out here," Holt said, "while you two--"

  The doors the nurse's room and the library crashed open as dozens of the creatures streamed through, screaming a multitonal chorus.

  Holt opened up on them, spraying 7.62mm bullets across the alcove.

  "They must be coming up the secret stairwell!" Sunny screeched.

  "Go in through the boudoir!" Holt shouted.

  "Come on!" Sunny pulled on Eile's arm. They ran for the glass door behind them that led out into the west loggia, went a few feet, and then opened the glass door into Differel's study. Two doors sat in the opposite corner, one exiting into the hall, the other giving access to Henry's bedroom. They dashed for the latter, throwing themselves against the wall beside it. Eile turned the knob; finding it unlocked, she pushed the door open but stayed out of the threshold.

  A shot rang out and hit the wall on the opposite side of the study.

  "Henry, it's us!" she shouted.

  "Aunt Eile!" Henry cried. "Aunt Sunny! They're breaking in!"

  They turned into the doorway. Henry stood on the near side of his bed, holding the L117A2 compact pistol Differel had given him.

  Sunny waved her arms at him. "Come on!"

  He ran over to her just as shrieking monsters smashed open the doors to the nurse's room and the bathroom.

  "Move!" Eile switched to full automatic as Sunny grabbed Henry's hand. They ran for the glass door as Eile fired off short bursts and retreated after them. She hesitated in the loggia, firing into the boudoir, until Sunny and Henry disappeared back into the hall, then ran after them.

  Holt still held off the creatures in the alcove. "Go! I'll cover you!"

  "We've got incoming!" Eile fired into the loggia as the creatures shattered the glass door.

  "Understood!" He started to retreat, and Eile moved beside him. They skipped backwards as the creatures converged from multiple directions. He kept up a withering field of fire as she shot at targets of opportunity, but then her rifle quit.

  "Shit! Outta ammo!"

  "It's too open here!" Holt said. "Head for the stairwell; we can contain them there!"

  Eile dropped back to where Sunny and Henry waited by the spiral stone staircase, expelling her magazine.

  "Gimme!"

  Sunny pulled a STANAG out of the bag and passed it to her.

  "Henry," she said as she shoved the magazine into place, "you stick with Sunny no matter what! Hear me?"

  He nodded as he and Sunny clasped their free hands.

  Eile cocked the rifle and started down the stone steps. Behind her she heard Sunny: "We're leaving, Gurney-Man!"

  "I'll be right behind you!" he replied. Eile just concentrated on the way ahead. The stairs turned counterclockwise, so the defenders would have a clearer field of fire, and Differel had room to use a sword if she wanted.

  Eile descended as fast as she dared, not wanting to outpace the others, or run headlong into a pack of monsters. Behind her she could hear Holt firing sporadically to keep the monsters from overrunning them.

  When they reached the second story she paused long enough to quickly scan the corridor to make sure it was clear. There were no creatures, and she continued on. As she approached the ground floor, she heard footsteps coming up the stairs towards them. She signaled for Sunny to stop and went a few steps further onto the landing, sighting just to the right of the central column.

  Differel sprinted into view. She stopped immediately, crouched, and raised her pistol, but she and Eile both relaxed when they recognized each other.

  "Geezus, Differel."

  The aristocrat joined her. "Where's Henry?"

  "Right here, Mother!" He and Sunny came around the bend from above.

  "Holt's behind us," Eile reported, "along with about a gazmillion screamin' monsters."

  Differel nodded. "I can hear them. We'll get out through the great hall." She started to step out of the stairwell.

  Eile grabbed her by the elbow. "What about the shelter?"

  Differel shook loose. "It's been overrun." And she went out into the family passage. Eile exchanged glances with Sunny, and she could see her partner didn't like the sound of that either.

  Eile followed the blue-blood into the passage, as Sunny shouted back, "We're getting off here, Gurney-Man!" As she passed it, she glanced at the security gate that closed off the entrance to the administrative wing. It looked to be intact, and more importantly there were no monsters behind it trying to break through.

  She found Differel looking through the glass door that led out into the north portico. As she passed a window, she saw the garden beyond was flooded with monsters. A band of house guards had set up three machine gun nests supported by riflemen just inside the pillars, and they fired into the horde as it swarmed up the porch, patio, and terrace.

  "This isn't a raid," Differel muttered as Eile felt butterflies dive-bomb her gut, "it's an incursion."

  "Where's Dracula?" She expected to see him down there in the thick of it, shooting creatures and ripping them apart.

  Differel didn't respond at first, and when she did her voice sounded uncharacteristic in its softness. "Vlad has been destroyed."

  Her words seemed so simple and ha
d been spoken in such a subdued tone that she might have missed them. Instead, they sent a jolt through her body. "How?!"

  "They must have come in through the secret tunnel from the motte-and-bailey. There were too many of them, we couldn't hold the shelter. Vlad confronted them so I could get away. The last I saw of him he was overwhelmed and being torn to pieces." She spared Eile a momentary glance of despair. "He never had a chance."

  "Holy Jesus God!" She turned to look at Sunny. Her face had twisted into a look of anguish and beside her Henry sniffled and rubbed at his eyes.

  Differel recovered her composure. "We have no time for this! We need to get to Command and Control." She brushed past them and approached Holt.

  "We can't get through this way!" he said as he fired off short bursts. The monsters were flowing out of the stairwell and bunching up at the end of the passage, trapped against the gate.

  "Then we'll go through the great hall and the gallery. That's more direct anyways. Cover us."

  "Go. I'll stay here and hold them as long as I can."

  She put a hand on his shoulder, a distraught look on her face. Having lost Dracula, Eile figured she wasn't eager to loose another close friend. "That isn't necessary! We can all get out of this if we stick together."

  "There's no other choice. We can't waste any time. We must wipe them out before they break free of the estate and scatter across the countryside."

  "Giles..." Her voice broke.

  "I'll buy you the time you need. It has to be done. Remember: we hold the line, and this line will not be crossed. Now, move it, you little wildcat!"

  For a moment, Eile thought she would grip his coat and pull him