Rebirth: Chapter 59: Holding Them Off

Private Brown frantically reloaded his rifle for the third time, fumbling with the clip in a desperate rush to continue shooting the demons that were trying to kill him and the rest of his squad.

From his wooden tower, he had a good view of the action below and had already ended the undead lives of at least ten vampires so far, but they just kept coming. He was amazed by the ferocity of this attack and the size of the clan. He had never heard of an attack of this size.

The soldiers on the ground were being slaughtered and it wouldn’t be long until the attack turned to the towers. The vampires attacked in waves, swooping down in long groups, cutting the soldiers to pieces. The men on the ground were desperately shooting at their attackers. Some vampires were taken down but still the attacks came. There were just too many of them for a small squad like this to deal with.

The supplies of ammunition in the tower were beginning to dwindle. At this rate they would run out within a matter of minutes.

Brown’s squad mate Private Hays was taking pot shots at the band of vampires approaching their tower. Brown’s rifle made a click to tell him it was reloaded and ready for action and he joined in the attack.

Looking over the edge of the steel-reinforced side of the tower, he counted at least fifteen vampires approaching them. Brown hit one and its body dissolved into ash. The remaining vampires spread out to make targeting for the soldiers in the tower more difficult.

‘Shit!’ cursed Private Brown, ‘we haven’t got long now.’ He wiped the sweat from his forehead, only to wipe the sunscreen off his face, which made the heat from the ultraviolet lamps even more unbearable.

‘The chopper’s almost here,’ said Private Hays, ‘we’ve just got to keep them away from the house for a few more minutes.’

‘They’re flanking us,’ said Brown as the group spread out even further and began to surround the tower. He leaned over the side but before he could take a shot, the vampires all drew their guns and began shooting at the top of the tower. Brown and Hays hit the deck.

‘What are they doing?’ shouted Hays over the sound of gunshots, ‘I’ve never seen them using their guns before.’

I’ve never seen them before at all, Brown thought to himself.

They both looked up as they heard the ultraviolet lamp smash above them. Fear gripped the soldiers as the gunshots ceased and glass rained down as silent darkness descended on the tower.

Hays and Brown both jumped to their feet and drew their swords just in time to take the heads off two vampires who had leapt to the top of the tower. The ash from their bodies blew away in the wind and another two vampires appeared to replace them. Then another two. And another two. They all drew their swords.

Resigned to their fate, Hays and Brown stood in the middle of the tower, back to back, swinging their swords at the approaching bloodsuckers. They stood their ground with honour but it was only a matter of time before Brown presented an opening and felt a cold sharp blade penetrate his side.

Brown looked down and saw the red blade emerge from his chest. He sank to his knees and with his last ounce of strength, swung his sword through the legs of two of his attackers.

As he fell flat on his face and succumbed to unconsciousness, the last sounds he heard were the agonised screams of Private Hays.