Book Two Chapter Eighteen: Know The Enemy

Guilt stricken after shooting Irene, Nick decides to save her. The gunshot attracted a horde of Kerulen, and Nick and his friends struggle to evade the horde.

Chapter Eighteen Know The Enemy: I hoisted Irene up onto my shoulder, she wasn’t very heavy. I was still carrying the rifle, and we bolted out of the building. In the seconds it took to tie down her wound, the Kerulen had made it almost 500 meters. We came to an intersection, we took a right. We ran as fast as we could, but the others were falling behind, closer to the Kerulen.

"I can't... run... anymore..." Wheezed Eric.

He was falling closest behind. I couldn't carry him and Irene, we needed a miracle. We took a left at the next intersection, Eric caught up a little, he was running full tilt, and even I was getting a little tired. I looked back to a horrifying sight: The Kerulen were around 250 meters away, they would overtake us soon. We saw an apartment complex in the distance.

“Can you make it there?” I asked the others, indicating the apartment complex.

“Probably not, but I’m going to… Try!” Eric wheezed.

We all made it to the apartment complex without trouble. We reached an alley between two apartment buildings. The alley had a dead end. I panicked, so did the others.

“Look for a way up into those apartments!” I instructed.

After a second Tim had an idea.

“The fire escape!" He exclaimed.

I looked up to the fire escape ladder in dismay.

"It's nine feet up! It was made for climbing down, not up." I said objected.

“Anyone got a better plan?” He asked.

We looked for another way up, but found that the fire escape was our only hope.

“Nope.” Eric said.

"I'll buy us some time!" Lisa exclaimed.

Her and Tim pushed dumpsters to block the alleyway, it wouldn't hold off hundreds of elite vampires though. We had to pile them up. I put Irene down and helped the others lift the dumpsters. The alley was two dumpsters wide, perfect. We put our hands on the latches the garbage trucks us for lifting it. My legs started to shake, and my arms ached. I'm sure the others felt the same way or worse. It took all of our strength, but we finally got the dumpsters stacked two by two, no one could climb over that. The dumpsters covered the entrance to the alley perfectly. We sagged against the wall in relief, trying to catch our breath. No sooner did we let our guard down, we heard noises. Slam, slam, slam. I was hit with a wave of dread. Three Kerulen had hit the dumpster. It hadn't occurred to me that they would be able to life it, all the more reason to get that ladder down. We all gathered beneath it frantically.

"I'll boost you up. Tim, see if you can reach that ladder." I told him.

I locked my figures and he stepped into them, I was the tallest, so it was ideal for me to boost. I looked up to see that the ladder was barley inches out of his reach. More slams came from the dumpsters.

"Argh! Almost got it!" He yelled.

I put in all of my strength to lift him higher, but it was still out of reach. Then I had an Idea. I put Tim down and backed away from the ladder, I took a running start and kicked off of the wall of the alley. I turned around after I kicked off of the wall. My fingers brushed the edge of the ladder! I attempted twice more and finally got a solid grip. That's when the dumpsters started to move. The dumpsters slid over the pavement, then I looked over them and was paralyzed for a good few seconds. There were no longer hundreds of Kerulen, there were probably a thousand behind those dumpsters.

"What is it Nick?" Asked Lisa.

"Drag my feet, now! We need to get this thing down!" I yelled.

Eric grabbed my feet and I came down... with the ladder! I leapt down, grabbed Irene, put her on my shoulder and jumped up and started to climb using one hand and two legs, using my other hand to keep Irene from falling. I was followed by my friends. I was now up on the fire escape. I put Irene down on the fire escape. Eric was the last up. As he was halfway up the ladder, The Kerulen pushed aside the dumpsters.

The Kerulen had pulled the dumpsters from the outside and there was now a way in for them. I reached down and dragged Eric up.

"Help me get this ladder up! If they get on here, we’re all dead!" I said.

I grabbed it, it was rusted badly. Lisa and I pulled on it, it was stuck! Anger filled me. We weren’t going to die because of a rusty ladder. No way.

"Come on!" I yelled, jerking the ladder upwards vigorously.

The four of us shook it a few times, but it just made more noise. Eric and Tim grabbed it and we all pulled. It was so rusted that it had somehow gotten stuck when it jerked to the bottom.

"We can't leave without the ladder up, or else they will surely catch us!" Said Eric.

The first few Kerulen we worming their way around the dumpsters. We kept shaking the ladder. As soon as the first Kerulen made it to the bottom of the ladder, he reached out to grab it, but all he caught was air, it was out of his reach. After a mighty heave from all of us, the ladder began to retract!

We finally had hope!... For a few seconds. We were starting to think that we were safe, that’s when a big, burly Kerulen walked in, or rather, and he ran in. And not just a leisurely jog, this thing was thirsty. He ran, jumped and grabbed the ladder, and he was weighing it down! It started to slowly scrape its way to the ground. The big Kerulen jerked on it, which slightly sped up the ladders decent. We wouldn't give up this easily. We pulled and pulled against his weight, the ladder was rising up slightly by the second, then a few more Kerulen came in and dragged his feet downwards, like my friends had done to me! Again, the ladder scraped downwards. I couldn't reach for my rifle without letting go of the ladder. If I did, we would all die.

I figured out that kneeling while pulling wasn't as effective as standing and pulling. I stood up, my friends did the same. We had our knees slightly bent and we lifted from the knees, and eventually with our backs. We could feel our efforts paying off. There was only one problem: We were dragging the burly Kerulen with the ladder! We had to get him off or else we would never be safe. Just then, a few more Kerulen pulled him downwards. With a jerk, the ladder flew to the ground fully, but in the process, the metal had cut my hand. I grit my teeth in pain. As I held my cut hand up to inspect it, total mayhem exploded below us. I had an idea. I held my hand over the edge as the big Kerulen ascended the ladder. I squeezed a few drops of blood out, they fell to the ground. It was like I had set off a bomb.

Every Kerulen was yelling and shoving each other out of the way to get some of the sweet blood, even the big guy jumped off of the ladder. Using this distraction, my friends hoisted the ladder upwards. They secured it into place. We were finally safe! Every Kerulen raised their hands to us, as if they could reach the nine feet up and pluck us from our perch. I could see it in every single one of their crimson eyes, it was something that was reflected in Saja's eyes whenever I looked into them: Bloodlust.

"Nick, come on." Urged Lisa.

I picked up Irene and my rifle and we were off. We went into the apartment that the fire escape was on. I loaded the four remaining rifle cartridges into the rifle, just in case. I shouldered the rifle and I kept my finger on the trigger, ready for anything.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think!