Alcingeria Volume Two Chapter Seventeen: IG-90

The Vampire Mafia had an ace up their sleeve; the IG-90, a giant metal beast that is seemingly indestructible.

Chapter Seventeen IG-90:

Saturday July 24^th 1690

Everyone ran out to the surface. The other soldiers who were up here stared at us, wondering what was happening.

            “Everyone, take cover!” Allan ordered.

The other officers ran through the village, yelling for everyone to get to cover. My friends and I ran to a nearby house. None of the other soldiers followed us.

            “What was that thing!?” Robert screamed.

            “Some sort of… Machine!?” Erin asked.

            “Did you see how it blew down the door!?” I demanded.

            “I don’t care how big it is, we will fight it no matter what!” Macalister yelled, thoroughly enraged.           

            “Buddy, calm down!” Walden advised.

            “It through me to the wall like I was nothing!” Macalister bellowed.

            “That’s one of the reasons we’re scared out of our minds!” Stella explained.

            “Okay everyone, let’s just calm down. Panicking won’t solve anything.” Robert said, his voice quivering.

            “You’re right, Robert.” Tabatha agreed.

Don looked out the window near the door. Everyone crowded around it, leaving me in the back. I couldn’t see it, but I could hear it. It was fairly close to us. I heard the creaking and groaning of metal. I quickly ran to find another window with the same view. I ran from room to room, finding nothing. I ran up the stairs, finally finding a window that looked out onto the street. I saw some movement; the thing just disappeared behind a house!

About five seconds later, it was visible. It was no longer behind the house and I could see it for what it was.

The thing was very big. It was taller than me by a foot or two. It looked to be about five or six feet wide and about fifteen feet long. On either side of it were metal belts that rotated, allowing it to move across the ground. It had a small metal cylinder on top of it, in the middle that was around three feet in diameter. The metal cylinder had a longer, thinner metal tube coming out of it. It rotated with the cylinder, as if it was looking around. It didn’t look like it could go very fast. It was actually quite slow. The whole thing was dull brown in color and looked to be made of metal, however there were a few numbers and letters painted onto the cylinder. They spelled out IG-90. The body was very square.

I ran back downstairs and rejoined the others. I was hearing screaming outside, the vampires who were following the thing out of the basement must have began attacking.

            “Erin you’re smart, what the heck is that thing!?” Stella asked, barely keeping her cool.

The smarter girl just gave an exasperated shrug.

            “I have no idea, I’ve never read about anything even remotely resembling that.” She told her.

            “It’s some kind of machine built by the mafia. There’s no doubt Ignacio’s inside that thing!” Don exclaimed.

Tabatha’s eyes lit up.

            “That means that if we take it out…” She started.

            “Then we’ll have Ignacio!” Don finished for her.

            “Okay, but how do we even go about fighting it?” I asked.

Walden snapped his fingers.

            “I got it! Guys, follow me.” He said, flying out an open window.

            “Walden wait!” Robert ordered.

The fairy wasn’t having any of it. We followed him. Walden led us down the street at top speed. We saw soldiers cowering behind houses, not knowing what to do. As we ran by, we saw vampires feeding on humans. At this rate, we’d lose Stavon within the hour! A few officers tried rounding up their men to attack the thing, but no one was crazy enough to go for it.

Except for us.

Walden flew on while we all hid behind some houses nearby.

            “All righty then bozo, wanna die?” He asked cockily.

He hovered in place around twenty feet away from the side of the thing. It crawled on, not paying him any mind. He aimed his hands at it.

            “Nova!” Walden exclaimed.

The familiar barrage of smaller explosions occurred, followed by the larger one. All they accomplished was rocking the thing back and forth as it crawled by. Confused and about to panic, he raised his hands again.

            “Nova!” He shouted.

The same explosions rocked the vehicle, with the same effect. The cylinder rotated towards Walden, the longer, thinner one that stuck out from the front of it was pointing in Walden’s direction. He quickly flew back to us in a frenzy of fear.

            “What is that thing made of!?” He screamed.

            “Why? What happened?” Asked Stella, who hadn’t been looking.

            “My magic! It didn’t do anything!” He shrieked.

            “I saw. Oh lord, what do we do?” Erin asked.

Around us, soldiers stood gawking. They must have seen us charge the thing. Of course, they didn’t see Walden.

I shifted my gaze to the metal vehicle, the IG-90. It didn’t seem to be paying any attention to the people around it. Vampires were everywhere! The screams what permeated the air minutes ago were still prominent.

I looked around. The soldiers who weren’t being attacked by vampires either fled for their lives, or attempted in vain to help their comrades. Movement on nearby rooftops caught my eye. I turned to look and found that a few soldiers welding muskets had made it up. They took aim on the IG-90 and opened fire.

Ping! Ping! Clang!

Their ammunition harmlessly ricocheted off. My eyes widened. The thing just crawled on. The vampire attacks still persisted.

            “We need a plan!” Don shouted over the screams of dying men.

            “I’m thinking!” Robert replied.

A few vampires finished their kills and they turned on us.

            “Get ready!” Robert ordered.

I grabbed a stake. They went straight for us. No planning, no tactic. I guess they didn’t need it. As soon as one of them was within arm’s reach, I lunched at it. It turned away, grabbed my arm and through me against the wall of a nearby house! I smacked against it with a thud! I hit the ground. I didn’t even have time to recover when I received a hard kick to the stomach. I gasped as my vision flashed. The force of the upward blow lifted me off the ground just before I crashed back down.

            “Redmond!” Stella screamed.

I tried to get up, but a pair of strong hands pulled me to my feet. It was the vampire! Dazed and hurt, I couldn’t do much to fight back. The vampire was going to bite my neck!

That was when his eyes went wide as he gasped, turning to ashes as a stake pierced his heart from behind. I looked to my savior, it was Robert!

            “Thanks!” I said, clutching my stomach.

            “Are you okay?” Macalister asked.

            “I’ll be fine, I just… Need a minute.” I groaned, doubling over.

            “We don’t have a minute.” Tabatha muttered.

She stood up straight and pointed her staff at me.

            “Healing Gaze!” She cried.

The comforting green glow embraced me, taking away the pain in my stomach. I stood up, feeling good as new.

            “Thanks Tabatha.” I said.

            “Hey, it’s what I’m here for.” She said modestly.

I looked to see that the IG-90 was crawling forward, paying no mind to anything going on around it.

            “What’s it doing?” Stella asked.

By now it had reached the demolished fence. It just moved on.

            “Hang on…” Erin trailed off.

She looked around, as if to get her bearings.

            “That’s the direction we came from. That means it’s going for Semera!” She cried.

            “B-but if that thing gets there... they wouldn’t be able to hold it off!” I shouted.

            “It’d push right through their defences.” Robert said solemnly.

            “We have to get back and warn them of what’s coming!” Erin yelled, taking charge.

            “You’ll be doing nothing of the kind!” A male’s voice cut in.

We turned around to see a brown haired vampire with light blue eyes wearing a white fedora. He was holding a flintlock pistol, which he had aimed in our direction.

            “You have a witch with you. Interesting.” He said with a smirk, pointing the pistol at Tabatha.

            “H-how’d you…?” Tabatha stammered.

The browned haired man rolled his eyes as if in boredom.

            “I just watched you heal this guy, I’m not sure what else is capable of doing that aside from a fairy, which you clearly aren’t.” He chuckled.

In an instant, his blue eyes hardened and his joking demeanor gave way to something colder and harder. He pulled the trigger.

Tabatha screamed, falling to the ground and clutching her chest, where she was shot.

            “Tabatha!” Don exclaimed.

He then turned to the man. He lowered his stance, grabbed his dagger and charged him.

            “I’ll kill you!” He screamed.

Don slashed and stabbed with such brutality and rage. I’d never seen anything like it. The vampire didn’t expect Don to charge. He got in a few stabs before the man drew a sword of his own from a scabbard at his hip.

As soon as the man swung his sword, Don ducked under and stabbed him in the side. The man cried out, retreating a few steps. Don jumped back to avoid his backhand swing. Using the distance between them to his advantage, Don quickly drew his flintlock and fired a hasty shot.

Hasty as it was, it found its mark. The vampire growled in pain, recoiling long enough for Don to stab him numerous times in the chest with his dagger. His eyes were alit with fire and fury. Every time his blade pierced his enemy’s skin, it just seemed to make him want more, and more, and more.

Finally, the man screamed once more, and fell back onto the ground, gasping for breath. He tried in vain to hold his sword up in defence. Don kicked it away and mercilessly stabbed him as his opponent lay on the ground.

After a few more thrusts, Don stopped, exhausted and breathing heavily. His back was to us.

            “Walden.” Robert ordered.

            “On it.” The fairy replied, flying over to the vampire.

As Don stood up and turned around, that was when the vampire struck. He took Don from behind, completely by surprise. In the blink of an eye, he sunk his fangs into don’s neck. He screamed in agony and rage, his face contorting in a mixture of the two. Don dropped his dagger and struggled to break free.

            “Don!” Macliaster exclaimed.

            “B*****d!” Robert screamed.

The vampire shoved Don to his knees. He hit the ground facing us. He looked to Robert.

            “That’s Omar White to you.” He corrected.

With that, he ran off faster than my eye could follow.

            “No! No, no, no, no!” Robert shouted in defiance.

And just like that, two of our friends were on death’s doorstep.

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think!