Suburban Vampire: Redemption, Book II: Leviathan

Chapter 53

"Elizabeth?" Zed said as he called out on his wireless headset. "Zed to Elizabeth? Are you there? Hey, Kitty, we lost contact with Elizabeth. Do you have visual? Negative? Shit!"

"She said they'd crossed the bridge over the Crooked River canyon, right?" Kevin Ellis asked.

"That's right. They should be either entering or going around Terrebonne right about now."

"If they come up from Terrebonne," Jeremiah said, "they'll need to cross the river again to get to the rocks. Ah, it's impossible to secure this place with such few numbers! We need to find a defensible location."

"There's a bridge not far from here," Grace said, "it leads across the river to the base of Smith Rock. That seems a natural place for them to try and cross. If we set up a defensive position at the bridge, we could use the rock as a redoubt."

"A well-though plan, Grace!"

"Well, I was a Marine, so, there's that."

"Indeed. Grace, Kevin, Laura, Kimiko, Zed, and I will hold the bridge. Tim, Larry, Emmett, Gaylord, and Bernie will hold the redoubt."

"Meaning we'll be out of harms way?" Tim asked.

"No one is out of harm's way here."

"That sucks."

"Wait," Bernie said, "what if they try to jump the river somewhere else?"

"I'll become the wolf," Emmett said, "and I'll track their movements."

"Are you sure about that, Emmett?" Zed asked. "And you do mean you'll just track them, right?"

"Zed, have you ever been to a dog race?"

"Uh, no. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Sometimes you gotta be the rabbit. The rest of you get going. I need to undress for this and believe me, you don't want to see me naked."

"Right," Jeremiah said. "Emmett, I wish you Godspeed. Everyone else, follow me!"

*

The flying vampires closed on the helicopter as it pushed past the red line. "I can't push it any farther!" Raton said. "Not without it overheating!"

Elizabeth huffed. "Fine. God damn it. Bring us about."

"Wait. What?"

"Slow down and turn us around. I'm opening the side door."

"Why the hell would you do that?"

Elizabeth found her M79 and popped it open, then loaded a shell. "Warhead combo round," she said, "silver flechettes, mini-stakes, and all sorts of nasty surprises. We're gonna give them a broadside."

"I see what you mean! Okay, get ready!"

Raton took the chopper into a wide turn, during which Elizabeth slid the side door open. She took aim at the mass of winged vampires then squeezed the trigger. The 40mm shell fired, launching its vampire-killing payload into the flight of vampires. Several vampires fell from the skies. A few were killed outright; most of the others were wounded and needed to break off their pursuit. Elizabeth followed that up with a second shell, which took out a few more and convinced the rest to retreat. "That's how it's done," she said. "Now get us out of here!"