The rain and the wet sandy ground made it difficult for them to walk, but as they advanced towards the enemy troops, their resolve strengthened with each step. There were sparks everywhere and the vampires all began to shriek in harmony making the humans cover their ears. The ones who could not handle the sound fell to the ground. The vampires devoured the fallen, five or six of them feasting on one body. “Ignore the noise!” Hopkinson yelled to his troops. But he too found it difficult as the sound pained his eardrums and the cold water pounded on his slashed skin. He used his anger to his advantage as he flung his sword in the air, whipping it round and round, killing as many as four to five vampires with each slash.
They were winning. So far.
Nikolas and the other Rebels stirred from their recuperation. As Nikolas opened his eyes, he saw the most remarkable thing. John, Richard, and Alex were fighting against Daniel, Erik and twenty soldiers. As Nick turned from his left to his right he saw all the Rebels staring at him. They nodded and he returned their greeting. All of them jumped up, transformed their bodies into silver and charged towards the battle.
At the sound of their battle cry, the two opposing sides stopped and looked. Both sides believed that the Rebels would come to their defense. In the midst of their charge, Nikolas stopped, and then the others did likewise. “What are you doing?” Daniel asked agitatedly, “Get them!”
Nikolas smiled and shook his head, “Did you think you could really trust us?” He paused to see Erik’s and Daniel’s confused faces. Daniel looked at him with a mixture of sadness, shock and disgust. Erik’s demonized face reddened in hot anger.
“It doesn’t matter now!” Erik yelled. “We have you surrounded. Activate the restrainers.” He pointed to the restraint belts.
The belts activated and electrified the Rebels’ silver bodies. They yelled in pain, their eyes bulged out and their faces contorted in excruciation. Alex slashed at Erik.
Erik blocked the massive silver sword and spat at Alex, “You can’t do anything boy!”
John jumped to Alex’s aid only to be stopped midair by Daniel, “What do you think you’re doing? We’re not finished yet!” He attacked John maintaining a rhythm with the swords. This was a fight method all vampires had learned to keep their opponents in check and to give them the upper hand by controlling the rhythm.
Alex looked to Erik, who kept attacking him. Then he looked to Nikolas and the Rebels. He pushed Erik back with all his strength and stepped closer to Nikolas. He held out his right hand and from the tips of his fingers came a small flash of electricity, like miniature lighting. In a few seconds, it grew, filling half of the room. The sparks converged to the restraints on the Rebels’ necks. The chokers blew apart, leaving the bearers unharmed. Suddenly, Alex felt a jolt of pain in his back as Erik had slashed it open. He screamed. John looked over to his nephew and yelled, “No!”
But, to everyone’s amazement, the huge cut in his back healed up. Alex smiled and turned around to face an awe-stricken Erik. He put out his right hand, extended his index finger and waved it, taunting and questioning the might of his opponent. Erik, in a fit of rage, flew towards Alex, who was off-guard at the moment, only to have the powerful attack blocked by Nikolas. “Learn to fight with those whom you can match!” He pushed him away in one powerful shove. “Alex, get out of here and take some of us with you.”
“But–”
“Just do it!”
One of the guards left his post. He walked into the forest to breathe in the pine scented air and light a cigarette. “Okay,” Ranjit murmured, “On my command.” And just as the vampire finished his cigarette, the General yelled, “Now!” There was a large explosion in the air, creating confusion amongst the guards. A non-silver bullet hit the guard with the cigarette in the head. “Troops, follow my lead,” said General Singh. They advanced towards the entrance of the gate at the edge of the forest. They would have to run as fast as they could because he and his men would be easily noticeable.
General Singh ran with his troops towards the entrance of the gate, but they were spotted and the guards shouted out to each other. They exposed their fangs and let out a hideous and unearthly howl. “Kurt, we need you! Now!” Singh shouted into his communicator. Within thirty seconds, the vampires attacked Singh’s army and the human fighters flew down and fired upon the Anisaei. Singh jabbed his sword into the unholy flesh of the vamps until fire and embers spurted out of their hellish bodies. As the large gates opened up to spew out more soldiers, Singh’s army pushed through the gate. He called for the ionic plasma bombs, which contained silver nitrate. Forty were thrown at a time, creating a large explosion of smoke and silver nitrate particles. When the vampires inhaled these particles they burst open spreading their glowing remains everywhere.
“Evan!” Ranjit shouted, “Evan! Stay with me.”
Evan, Ranjit’s lieutenant, answered, “I’m coming.” He rushed to Ranjit’s side, hacking away at the enemy and killing at least twenty of them in his stride.
“Keep those discs safe; we’re going to need them soon.”
*****
Alex stood in the elevator with seven of the Rebels: Davik, Joqetu, Gavin, Noel, Yagnik, Hektor, and Orwen. When they reached the main landing area, they saw the vampires feeding on human bodies. Blood spilled and flowed everywhere, making the ground shiny. Justus, along with his other men, battled it out with the vampires on the ground.
“Leave this to us, Alexander,” Orwen said.
“But—”
“Just get in the ship,” Orwen barked, “Davik, Gavin and Noeclass="underline" you go with him.”
Justus, who spotted Alex amidst the bloodbath, said, “Don’t worry sir! I’m coming!” He had no idea that the others were Rebels.
“Wait! Wait!” Alex shouted, “They’re here to help!”
Justus stopped in his tracks and an expression of relief covered his face. Just then, a flying vampire grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him outside. Justus gasped. He gathered his senses and with his sword tried to literally disarm his predator. The vampire flew out of range. Suddenly thunder struck and pierced the vampire’s sensitive ears. The flying vampire let go of Justus who plummeted into the sea. Alex, quick to help, ran outside with the other Rebels, trying to catch him. But they were too late. Alex dived in the sea to save him.
“Let’s finish this off,” Orwen said. The Rebels turned into silver, took flight and prepared for the final assault.
John, accustomed to the ferocity of the fight and getting in tune with his old techniques, spun his sword around, broke the rhythm and slashed Daniel in the stomach. The sword pierced through the titanium chain-mail that he was wearing underneath leaving a searing wound there. Daniel screeched in agony and his face turned demonic. Just as it had in the boardroom, it became sharp, angular and intense. He leaped towards John and lacerated his shoulder with his sword, rendering his sword-arm almost powerless. The President laughed and thrust his weapon at John’s chest but not before Nikolas had gathered enough energy to telepathically push his son away.
“Thanks, I owe you one.” John spun his sword and smiled at Daniel maliciously. Daniel glared at him and in a raging fury, lifted a large broken piece of glass and telekinetically threw it at John. Dante used his psychic powers and broke it into innumerable shards that flew towards Daniel. Daniel ducked but it was too late. The glass pierced his body in many places, leaving him drained and weak, but not dead.
“I think you better get out of here, John,” Dante said, “Alex’ll be needing you!”