Vampire Boys Of Summer (Completed!)

Episode 82: Flight From The Cavern

The revolt of the humans had opened a window of opportunity for us. With the dwindling vampire army distracted, we climbed down off the stage and made our way to Chinatsu who was still fighting a small pocket of attackers. When they saw us coming, they hissed and ran away, fleeing into the melee between vampires and humans. I guess they thought their chances were better in the crowd.

Chi led us across the cavern floor and we rejoined Luhan, busy freeing the last of the mind controlled humans. A young girl went to run past Chi, and she grabbed her. "How were you brought here?"

The girl, confused and frightened, tried to pull away from her. "Let me go," she pleaded, her eyes looking on us in abject fear. Perhaps she could see the fangs of my companions and she assumed they were part of the bad vampire clan.

"We're not going to hurt you," I said, trying to calm her down. Haru set me down and I touched the girl's arm in what I hoped was a reassuring gesture. "We just want to know how you got here. How did everyone get in the cavern?"

I was taking Chi's cue, because like her, I had figured it would have been near impossible to get all these people down the shaft we used. It would have taken forever for each person to be carried down the hole. I'm not even sure the new vampires could have made the jump into darkness successfully.

"By..by boat," the girl stammered, nervously running her fingers through her long ginger hair. She was thin, almost to the point of Anorexia, and I wondered if perhaps vampires had used her as a vessel in the same manner as Angela. "I...I think...From the lake. A tunnel."

"Where is it," I asked.

"I can't remember....i don't know...please, please let me go."

And then she pulled away and ran. I didn't know where she thought she was running to, but she followed the wall around to the back of the stage and was gone.

Ryo watched her with a suspicious eye. "For someone who doesn't know, it looks like she has a destination in mind."

"She's afraid of us. She thinks we are with her captors."

"And now that she is free..." Chi pondered.

Luhan didn't hesitate to finish the sentence. "...she is going back the way she came. Come on!"

We took off after the ginger girl, all six of us relatively intact. I was still limping from my bum ankle and Angela had to be carried by Ryo. She wasn't talking much, aside from mumbling Ryo's name. Luhan and Chi seemed in the best shape and they took up the charge ahead of us. We were just starting to go behind the stage when I stopped. We couldn't just run away. Not like this. We couldn't leave all the humans behind to be vampire food or hopelessly lost in this cavern. Once we took the boat or boats that the girl spoke of there would be no means of escape except straight up through a shaft that had no ladder or hand holds. I pulled away from Haru. "We've got to go back!"

Haru tried to grab my hand. "What? Wait, Nora..."

"No! We can't just leave them! They are victims. They haven't done anything. We chose to come down here. They didn't."

I waited for Haru to protest, to tell me we had this tiny opportunity of escape, and that if we didn't find the boats we'd be down here forever, but he didn't say a word. He just looked at the backs of our friends as they disappeared around the corner. Then he looked back at me and took my hand. "You're right," he said. "We'll get as many as we can to come with and just hope..."

His voice dropped off and let the unfinished statement hang in the air. But I knew what he wanted to add. His hope that there would be enough boats to carry us all out.

It wasn't easy convincing the awakened humans to follow us. Some of them believed us, while others thought Haru was among those who had lured them from their homes with the most pleasant of dreams and brought them here. It took some convincing on my part, including an embarrassing show of my teeth, before they would join us in our flight out of the cavern. First it was just a few, but then they managed to convince others, who in turn persuaded even more, until we had a number of about thirty or so refugees. I tried my best to get them to line up against the wall again, this time to head out for freedom. There were some who thought this was a trick, but what else could I do? I was just trying to save them and it brought me close to tears to see some of them rejecting a helping hand. On and on this went, we'd gain some, then lose a few, until finally I came to the realization I'd done all I could do. Maybe if they saw us leaving, they would follow us better that way.

Haru put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "Nora, we have to go."

"I know. I just hate to..."

"I know, baby," he replied. "But we have to get to the boats or we are going to get left behind."

As if to convince me further, Chi returned with the news they had found the boats, but there wasn't an unlimited supply. "There were a few people on guard, but Luhan freed them. Ryo has taken those across."

"Where's Angela?"

She smiled at the worry in my voice. "She's with Ryo. He wouldn't leave her behind."

And with that, I couldn't leave the humans behind either. Following Chi, Haru and I led the thirty or so who would follow us. Along the wall we went, only leaving it to disappear behind the stage and follow the candle lit tunnel on our way to the boats. We walked a little ways in a hurried pace. I tried to encourage and usher our followers, and as they became further awake to their plight, they seemed more agreeable to the idea. Soon we were all running down the corridor, me limping along and noticing the candles in the tunnel wall were thinning out. We rounded a corner and straight into pitch darkness. No candles. There wasn't a single sliver of light. I grabbed someone's hand and urged everyone else to do the same. Lucky for us, vampires can see clearly in the dark. They aren't hindered by human eyes any longer. Someone grabbed my other hand, and I could tell it was Haru by touch alone. I had held his hand so many times I knew the exact paths of his lifelines. He squeezed my hand and whispered my name, tugging me gently through the dark corridor.

As we eased our way through the pitch black, Haru periodically squeezed my hand for comfort, and I in turn squeezed the hand of the person behind me. I couldn't see their face, but I hoped that it gave them some small measure of reassurance that things were going to be alright. They squeezed my hand back and I smiled to myself. It felt good to be leading others to safety.

Soon there was a small shaft of light ahead. I sighed in relief. I wasn't too afraid in the dark with my hand in Haru's, but I was still happy to see we were coming to journey's end. "It's going to be okay," I whispered to the person behind, hoping they would pass the message down the line. Instead, they whispered back, "I know."

I don't know if I found their response strange, or perhaps it was the confident tone in their voice, but I turned to look at them. The shaft of light ahead had grown larger now, and for a brief moment it illuminated their face, just long enough for me to recognize them. My breath caught in my throat, and cold chills shot through my body. Before I could say a word, they had jerked me away from Haru's grip, pulling me into their grasp. In an instant, they had pulled my head back and were going for my neck. I could feel their breath on my skin. "I told you you'd be my queen," Colin hissed.