'Will it work again?' Trajan asked. 'If you drink the water from the pools?'
'It might.' April didn't sound hopeful.
'And it was only a short-fix,' Carter added.
Elmo spoke. 'We must find a permanent cure for their condition.'
'How?'
Elmo's hooded eyes regarded the creatures advancing up the shore toward them. 'The answer is here on this island.'
Ben gripped Elmo's arm. 'Tell us what it is.'
'That's just it. I don't know. It's for you to find out. I'm not being deliberately obstructive but you, Ben, must enter that Sea of Thought.'
'You can't be serious. You mean it's down to me to find the solution?'
'Yes.'
April tugged Trajan's sleeve. 'You can't stay here. They'll kill you.'
'Worse,' Carter grunted. 'If they catch you, you'll become one of them.'
In the moonlight, the figures appeared as silhouettes as the last ones rose from the sands to their feet. From each shadowy form a pair of eyes shone like splinters of glass. A baleful hunger blazed there.
'Come on.' Carter dropped from the deck on to the shore. 'It's you three they want. And April and me aren't safe, either. Those things will tear anything apart if they think there's even a drop of blood inside.'
The group ran across the sand toward the willows. At least Carter knew the way; in seconds he'd found a path that led through the thicket of trees.
Ben thought furiously.
What did Elmo mean? Why must it be me who finds the cure for April's condition? Where do I begin to look? There are only trees here.
Then a revelation struck him. He caught the African by the elbow. 'Elmo,' he panted. 'You knew something like this would happen, didn't you?'
'I've been warning of the dangers that humanity faces all my life.'
'No, it's more than that. When we first met, when you were still in that boat, you knew I'd be confronted with this, didn't you?'
A breeze whispered through the branches. Above them, the moon beamed its light on to Elmo's face as his gaze met Ben's. 'I saw something,' he agreed. 'Destiny. Fate. Inevitability. Whatever the description you apply, I saw in my mind's eye.' He touched his temple. 'You were to fight in a great battle. The city of London depends on you. You are its protecting warrior.'
'No. You can't expect that from me. What the hell do I know about fighting those monsters?'
'Nevertheless…'
'You've picked the wrong man.'
'The gods of my village and my ancestors think differently.'
'You're mistaken. Do you know what I do for a living?' Ben's voice rose in anger. 'I write articles for a magazine. Frivolous bits of text that editors use to fill the spaces between advertisements. I'm no more a warrior than any other guy who sits at a computer from nine till five!'
The others continued through the trees. Carter paused to call back. 'Come on. It's too dangerous to stay here.'
That was the moment when a figure leapt out of the bushes on to Carter's back. The vampire launched its frenzied attack; its mouth open wide as it tried to rip Carter's face from his head. Ben darted forward. He saw what would once have been a woman of around thirty. She wore the remains of a tight red dress. Her eyes blazed down at Carter with sheer ferocity as she struggled to sink her teeth into him.
When Ben reached the pair he didn't stop running. He leapt as if jumping into a swimming pool with legs outstretched, his feet in front of him. It knocked the woman backwards into the undergrowth. With a roar of frustration she sprang to her feet. Even though Ben's footprint revealed itself on the bare skin of her upper chest she wasn't fazed; didn't even show any sign of hurt. Her jaws opened again in readiness for biting whatever flesh came close. The mad light in her eyes increased its intensity. A Berserker. Carter's name for this breed of vampire said it all. This ferocious creature is berserk through and through and through…
Carter wouldn't be on his feet fast enough to outrun the creature, so Ben searched the ground for something he could use as a weapon. The only thing that came close was a fallen tree branch that was nearly as long as he was tall. In a second he'd scooped it up as the vampire launched itself from the ground in a muscular leap. As it flew at Carter, its jaws wide, Ben drove the end of the branch into that gaping mouth. The branch was as thick as a wrist, yet he aimed it with such accuracy it passed between the creature's teeth to slam into the back of its throat. With all his strength he followed the attack through by pushing so hard that the creature fell backwards. He didn't let up the pressure. He positioned himself so he rammed the branch down with enough force into the vampire's mouth to stop it from rising. There it lay on its back; the end of the branch filled its mouth. The Berserker erupted into nothing less than a maelstrom of furies: it writhed, bare legs kicked, arms reached up to try and claw at his hands as they gripped the branch, and all the time it roared out its rage at him.
Damn, the thing was strong. Even from that position, with Ben bearing down on the tree limb with all his body weight, the monster lifted its head from the earth. Its upper lip curled back as it sank its teeth into the dry wood. Another moment and it would break free. His heart pounded in his chest as perspiration blurred his eyes.
Then Carter was at his side. The man gripped the branch and helped force the Berserker back down to earth.
Ben panted, 'Give it everything you've got! One, two, three - push!'
Together they exerted as much force as they could. The branch creaked as the downward pressure grew. The creature that had once been a woman choked in agony as the blunt end of the branch broke the flesh at the back of its throat, then sank through the muscle to burst through the skull at the back.
'It's still alive!' Ben shouted. 'Keep pushing!'
They continued to force the branch through the mouth, through the back of the head, and into the soil. They only stopped when it couldn't penetrate the ground any deeper. But by then it must have embedded itself more than two feet deep. Now the vampire was effectively pinned to the earth. Even though it was still alive - kicking its legs, flailing its arms, jerking its hips - it couldn't rise.
'Good work, Carter,' Ben said as he patted the man on the back.
Man? This thing is a vampire. In another ten minutes that wild look might return to its eye and it'll try and kill me.
At that moment, however, Carter grinned back. The gold tips of his teeth shone in the moonlight. 'Come on, Ben, this place will soon be swarming with those things.'
When they rejoined the others they quickly made their way through the trees in the direction of a ruined house.
Elmo ran alongside Ben. 'I saw what you did to the vampire.'
'It wasn't pretty. But needs must.'
'You told me you were no warrior, Ben Ashton. Are you still so certain?'
THIRTY-FOUR
They ran toward a house that had been abandoned years ago. The garden had merged with the forest. In the chaotic growth that had once been the front lawn were the remains of lobster pots and a rowing boat. The door of the house gaped open with all the grim promise of an entrance to a tomb. Ben's mind whirled. Clearly Elmo Kigoma expected a mighty deed from him, and to fight evil just as Elmo's warrior ancestors had done. Ben still didn't know how. Okay, so he'd managed to pin down one of the vampires using a tree branch. But there were dozens of the creatures - those Berserkers - swarming all over the island. He couldn't stake down every single one of them, could he? So how was he expected to save not only their lives but the entire population of London?
As they raced through a tunnel of greenery toward the door of the house Carter called back, inside there are men and women. 'They won't harm you.' At the door he paused to beckon them through. 'Hurry! They're here!'
Ben glanced back. Pale shapes swam through the shadows with all the menace of hungry sharks. The vampires moved so smoothly and so rapidly it reinforced the notion that those creatures somehow glided through the night air rather than ran. But that illusion of grace soon evaporated when a pair of creature burst through the undergrowth in an explosion of leaves.
For a moment the group stood gasping for breath in the hallway as Carter slammed the broken door shut in the vampires' faces. 'Help me!'
All four ran to the door to hold it shut as a barrage of fists pounded at the timbers. Then the Berserkers began to push. Hinges creaked. A panel split with the sound of a pistol shot.
Elmo said desperately, 'We need to barricade the entrance.'
'It won't give you long,' Carter shouted above the hammering. 'They'll find a way in!'
April cried, 'The downstairs windows are boarded. They'll hold for a while!'
'Keep holding the door closed,' Carter told them. 'I'll bring whatever I can to build the barricade.' Moments later he hauled a dresser from the kitchen. It was little more than a wreck that sprouted blobs of orange fungi but as a piece of furniture it was a heavyweight. With April's help he tipped it against the door. 'That's the best we've got.'
Trajan pointed. 'They're inside the house!'
Ben saw the figures of men and women standing on the staircase.
'Those are Misfires,' April explained.
'Misfires?'
'The ones that never made the change from human to vampire completely. Don't worry, they're harmless.' That's when the revelation struck. Her eyes widened in horror. 'Not like me. Trajan, I'm one of those monsters, aren't I?' She gulped and a frantic searching expression came into her eyes. 'Oh, my God. I've done terrible things. I've attacked people and drank their blood. The worst thing is I know I'm going to do it again.' She clenched her fists. 'And soon. I can feel the hunger. Trajan, you can't be near me when it comes over me. I'll hurt you.'
Ben watched Trajan smile fondly at her as he lightly stroked her cheek. 'We're fighting this together now. I'm not going to give up on you.'
That hungry, searching expression faded as she smiled back at him. The tenderness in her smile sank a knife into Ben's soul. That secret hope of being with April as a couple shriveled in on itself and died.
Ben glanced at Elmo. The old man's dark, soulful eyes met his. Elmo knew what had just gone through Ben's mind. And the rhythm of the pounding on the door quickened. The vampires wanted in. They were hungry. They wanted blood. Craved blood. It energized them with this berserk power; an incredible strength that would allow them to claw through solid stone given time. From the back of the house more fists beat the boards covering the windows.
Carter had become edgy. His appetite was returning, too. Nevertheless, he took a deep breath and said, 'We should think about retreating upstairs.'
He indicated the way up the staircase with its strange, immobile cargo of those things he termed Misfires. Ben appreciated the description. With all the clamouring outside the Misfires hadn't moved; they didn't even appear to notice that the house had new occupants. Four men and three women stood on the steps where they faced the front door. They could have been a still from a film. Their skin possessed a bluish tint, their hair glistened with the same sticky substance as April's. Little more than scraps of mildewed cloth, all that remained of their clothes, hung from those motionless bodies. A spider had even spun a web from the ear of a young woman to her shoulder. Ben avoided touching the sentinels as he passed by them to the upper floor. Their faces could have been cast from resin. A total absence of expression. Eyes part open, apparently seeing nothing. Once he reached the upper landing he followed the others into what had been a bedroom. There, lank shreds of wallpaper hung from the walls, while five women and a man in a business suit guarded nothing in particular. Again that statue-like immobility. Carter peered out through a gap in the planks that had been nailed across the window. Ben joined him. Outside, in the moonlight, vampires surged through the trees to join the other creatures that were now tugging at the boards on the windows downstairs. The pounding on the door became faster. A dark heartbeat that seemed to be propelling the entire world toward a crisis of nightmarish proportions. From down below came a crash.
April raced through the door with the words, 'They're inside!'
'Keep moving higher,' Carter told them.
'What's the point?' Ben roared. 'They're going to get us in the end!'
Elmo's calm eyes regarded him. 'The point is to give you enough time to reach your decision.'
'But
what
decision?'
'You're close. I can tell. Remember what I told you about the Sea of Thought?'
'To hell with the Sea of Thought!' But beyond that Ben didn't have time to reply. Carter and April urged them through into the little passageway that led from the stairs to the bedrooms. Carter jumped up to punch open the loft hatch. That done, he lifted himself up into it. Then he reached down to haul up April.
From the direction of the hallway came the clumping of feet. Trajan ran toward the top of the stairs to meet the foe.
Ben was faster. 'I'll hold them back. You stay with April!'
'No, I'm going to-'
'Trajan! Do you love April?'
Ben looked Trajan in the eye as the man nodded. 'I know you do,' Ben told him. 'I wish you didn't honestly love her, but I can see you do.'
'What do you mean?'
'Just get yourself into the attic!'
Trajan relented. He followed Elmo up into the void beneath the roof.