Sheriff Monroe aimed his handgun at the first man, Dale Portwood. He shot the man in the back; he fell instantly. He next took aim at Mike Chambers and fired. But Mike was quick, and the bullet instead hit his shoulder as he dodged. He ducked down behind a large desk, a third bullet spraying woodchips around him.
“Sheriff? What the hell is wrong with you, man?”
“You are trespassing on private property,” shouted the sheriff. “Come on out, Mike, so we can get this over with. I promise to make it quick and painless, just like Dale.”
Mike checked his weapon; he was low on ammunition, but found more in one of the pockets on his vest. He also remembered he had another weapon to defend himself with in his belt and checked to make sure it was still there. “Why are you doing this, Sheriff? Dale was a good man.”
“I know he was. Come on out so we can end this, Mike. Don’t be like poor John Henry and end it all in a whirlwind of screams.”
Mike rose and fired his rifle. “You bastards!” The sheriff returned his fire, and he dodged behind another desk.
“You are not getting out of here alive. Come on out and make it easy on yourself. Come on out!”
Mike fired again and then threw the empty rifle in the sheriff’s direction. “All right, Sheriff, you win. I am coming out. All I want to know is why?”
“Come on out and I will tell you.”
Mike slowly raised his hands and stood up from behind the desk. The sheriff trained his gun on him as he stood up too. “It is simple, Mike. This is my home and you are hunting my family. We have lived here in peace for a hundred years and now because of a few bad circumstances we are in danger from idiots like you. I like you, Mike, but I have to protect my family.”
The sheriff took aim. One bullet and their problem would be over, once and for all.
Mike Chambers watched his finger as he prepared to squeeze the trigger. He showed perfect timing as he dove to the open floor, pulled a handgun from his back, whirled around, and fired. Being the champion shooter that he was, he hit the sheriff squarely in the chest, knocking him back like a ragdoll. Mike got up and checked: he was dead. Instead of leaving, he opened the other door and went down the hall.
Sara and Allie had been watching the screen nonstop. Sara knew who the sheriff was and was hoping he could finish the job and secure their safety but was disappointed when he failed. As Mike left the room, she switched to an interior camera. Mike was coming toward them.
“Go to the north Honored Room,” said Bethany over the intercom. She had seen everything that had occurred and saw the look of fright on the girls’ faces. The sheriff’s failure was expected and she had alternate plans ready to go for all outcomes.
Sara took Allie into the room mentioned by Bethany. It was one of the chamber rooms with the crest on each wall. The room had white tile on the floor, walls, and ceiling. Allie looked at the walls and saw colors, mainly red. From what little she had learned of their writings, she knew they were women. Sara went to a wall, read it, and moved to another. She reached down low and pressed a sun on one of the walls, making a vertical vault slide forward and open. She looked inside. It was empty.
“These are sleep chambers that have been evacuated because of the crisis,” she explained to Allie. “We will hide in them. Get inside and I will show you how to work the control panel.”
Allie stepped quickly into the box. She stood straight up in the small, tight fitting area and looked around. By her right hand was a panel with three black buttons. None of them had any markings.
“Listen carefully. The button closest to you is number one, the one in the middle is number two and the one farthest away is number three. The sequence to open this chamber vault is 1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 1. Do you understand? 1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 1.”
Allie nodded and chorused the sequence back. Sara, still doubtful, said, “Put your hand above the buttons and tap it out to show me.”
Allie did as instructed and performed the sequence with no difficulty.
Sara showed her the three white buttons by her left hand. “Look at these buttons on this side now. The button closest to you is the inside light. Push it in and a light comes on inside that no one on the outside can see. The middle button activates the wall in front of you; push it in and you can see the inside of the room without anyone being able to see you. The left button is the activation button; you hold it down while you press in the sequence I gave you earlier to open the door. If you don’t hold the button down the vault won’t open. Do you understand everything?”
“Yes.”
“I will be over there in that vault. Stay quiet. The hunter cannot see you. Do not come out until he has gone, understand?”
“Yes.”
Sara pressed a button and the vault with Allie inside it began to disappear back into the wall. It formed a perfect seal with no trace of a seam to be found. Then Sara opened her own chamber, entered it and disappeared.
Allie had been rushed into the chamber so fast she didn’t have time to think or react to anything. When the vault closed, all light and sound vanished, leaving her in complete darkness. She had never been in a totally darkened space before and was sure she wasn’t claustrophobic, although nobody had bothered to ask her. She did her best to remain calm and kept telling herself that she was safe and with friends who would not allow her to be harmed. This helped her to relax and focus.
Allie felt around in the dark for the buttons on her left side. Finding the nearest, she pressed it. A light came on inside the box. Directly in front of her was an image of the crest. She thought about the children and knew that if they were kept in these chambers that the crest would be the first thing they would see when they woke up and the last thing they would see when they went to bed. Maybe that was why they responded to the crest. Allie fixated on the image before her. Suddenly, the image of the eagle clutching the moon disappeared. Writing was left in its place. Some of it was an ancient language with strange characters and the rest was a group of pictures. As she watched, they evaporated and the eagle returned, only, it was more menacing, crowing. It moved! The eagle flapped its wings and crowed at her. Then, it flew at her in attack mode. Allie screamed and turned her head. In the tight fitting space that is all she could manage. She heard the wings flapping and the crowing and screamed bloody murder, crouching as best she could. And then it stopped and the crest reappeared. In that moment, Allie realized how little she really knew about them. They told her training would take two full years and now she knew why: this was a vast place with many secrets. She thought more about the children and remembered Sara had told her that they didn’t sleep in regular beds, but she never said where or how they slept.
Allie pressed the middle button with heightened anticipation. The wall with the crest on it slid down and she was able to see into the room. She saw the room as she always saw it: colors, rainbows and suns danced on the walls, but nothing more.
Since the room was empty, she assumed the hunter had been there already. She put one of her left fingers on the far left button and with her right hand she pressed the sequence of buttons to open the vault. The chamber slid forward and opened and she stepped out into the room. She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that if she had forgotten the sequence she would have been there for life. She looked around and saw nothing and went to the door. Allie stuck her head out the door and saw the hunter, Mike Chambers, coming directly toward her.
“Hey!” Mike Chambers shouted. He ran toward her with Dale’s gun pointed in her direction. Allie ran back into the room.
Sara was in her chamber looking out the one-way viewing wall. She saw Allie’s vault slide open and saw the young girl step out. Sara tried hard to catch her breath as she watched Allie walk to the door and open it. She reached for her buttons when she saw Allie running back from the door with a look of fright on her face. Sara watched as Allie ran to the vault chamber, pushed the button, and jumped back into it as it was closing. She guessed someone must be coming and was praying the door would close in time to ke
ep her friend safe.
The door closed right as the hunter came into the room with fire in his eyes. He pointed his gun around the empty room but no one was there but him. Allie had luckily remembered how to open the chamber and had made it back in time; otherwise Sara would be watching her getting gunned down by the hunter. Sara recognized him as Mike Chambers, the sharp-shooting redneck from town. She watched as the man looked around the room, wondering where the girl had gone that he was chasing. How could she have disappeared from an empty room?
There was only one possible conclusion Mike could come to: like the store, this room must have a secret exit door. And he would find it.
He went to the wall on his right and began tapping, rifle held in his other hand. He tapped around the wall by the door, then the next wall, and then to the wall where Allie was hiding in. Just like the rest of the walls, he heard nothing.
He was about to move when he looked down and saw a piece of cloth sticking between two pieces of the white tile. This must be the door, he thought to himself and smiled. He tried grabbing the piece of cloth but it was so small he could not get a grip on it. He took a knife from his pocket and tried to pry the pieces of tile apart.
Sara watched with horror. She wanted to come out and help but couldn’t. If Allie was smart, she thought, she would stay put and wait the man out. She was safe as long as she didn’t open the door.
Allie watched the man from behind the wall as he tapped around the room and stopped at her chamber. Why would he stop in front of her? What happened to make him stop? She didn’t know at first what he was doing because he was bent over in front of her as if digging at something. Then she looked down where he was working at and she saw her T-shirt had been caught in the door. She closed her eyes in disgust and scolded herself in silence for being so stupid. Now what? She glanced toward the wall; Sara had not moved. There must not be any danger. Her best course of action was to stay put, so she did nothing but watch the man.
The young women had an ace in the hole they knew nothing about. Bethany had been following the man from room to room on the closed-circuit surveillance camera system. She pushed a button on her desk and turned on the intercom in the room. “You can try all day but you will never get in. This room is bulletproof so leave while you can.” After another button press, an alarm sounded and lights began to flash.
Mike spun. He went to the hall to take a look but saw no one coming. He went back to the wall and faced Allie. He looked at the wall as if he was looking her directly in her eyes. Allie cringed from the piercing stare of the man. Without warning, he aimed his gun at her head and fired. Allie screamed, covered her head, and tried ducking down to get out of the way.
Yet though Mike unloaded his full clip, the tile did not crack: the only sign it had been shot were tiny impressions from where the bullets had hit.
Mike touched the spots with his fingers. He could not believe it. He thought of the bag he had left and the explosive charges inside it. He turned and left the room to go back and get more explosives than what he carried in his jacket: he would punch a hole through the wall and find out what lay behind it. He ran to the first room they entered and took the jacket off of his friend Dale Portwood. He put charges with timers connected to them in the hallway and in several of the rooms leading toward the room he knew contained a secret door.
As soon as he left, Sara opened her vault and waved Allie out of her own. They closed the vaults and ran down the hall in the opposite direction back toward Bethany. They held hands as they ran down a long hallway and didn’t stop until they reached her.
Bethany watched them coming on one monitor. On another she spotted another group of men with guns who’d broken in through a different tunnel. The men were shooting anyone they came into contact with, both Cavers and vampires who stayed behind to protect the complex. They shot them all without regard to who they were. Those they didn’t shoot, they threw explosives at and ripped apart.
Then, a new set of vampires charged. An explosion occurred that ripped away part of the ceiling. Sunshine entered the room and struck the fighting vampires. Their movements slowed, then stopped. A vampire in direct sunlight fell and became immobile as if sleeping on the floor, another blackened and became a statue. A hunter shot the darkened figure and it blew into a million pieces. Hunters rushed the slow moving vampires trying to flee from the light. They charged forward or took aim and fired to destroy them.
Bethany was angry by what she saw and turned the monitor off as the girls came through the door.
“Bethany, what do we do now?” Sara asked, breathless after her long run.
“We have been invaded at our western and southern entrances; Malcolm is on his way back here to take the two of you to safety. Go with him. I will stop the invaders and we will start over someplace new. Allie, you must decide if you are coming with us or if you will stay behind with your parents and the townspeople. We will be going far away, so we will not be around any others who can hurt us. If you come with us, you will have to leave home forever. Be quick: you have just minutes to decide. I have to set the sealing process in motion. When I am finished, you will have ten minutes to get out of the tunnels and to safety. Are we clear?”
The two girls nodded.
“Go to the north entrance and wait for Malcolm.”
Allie and Sara turned and departed quickly – and ran straight into a hunter around the next corner. He quickly aimed and fired; the two women ducked around a corner as the bullets flew over them.
Sara looked for a way pass the man who fired again. “We have to run and leap over him. Are you ready?”
Allie nodded.
“Don’t think about it: just do it. Follow me, do what I do, and stay close. Ready?”
Once more, Allie nodded. Sara waited for another shot and then stood up and charged the man. She ran so fast she was a blur. She went to his right and hit the wall, scaled it up to the ceiling, and was up and over and past the man in no time. Allie followed Sara with the same skill and precision. The two girls were past the hunter as he shot his rifle in the opposite direction at their reflections. They ran past him down the hall and around the corner.
The man turned around from the breeze – he couldn’t believe how fast they’d moved. Desperately, he tossed a grenade down the hall they had gone through. He hid behind a desk and waited for the explosion before he got up to check for body parts. The man saw damage done by the grenade to the hall but saw nothing in the way of a body or body parts so he continued his search.
Allie and Sara had moved so fast that they avoided the grenade explosion, although they heard and felt it as they ran. They went through several rooms and hid in the last while they waited for Malcolm.
Malcolm was in the tunnel heading toward the north entrance door. He reached the door and entered the outer room. Scanning the room, he failed to spot Sara and Allie; they were behind him and kept silent, believing him to be a hunter because of his camouflaged outfit.
Spying two townspeople heading down a hallway, Malcolm waited until they’d passed and moved forward. He had barely taken a step when a high-pitched shrill sounded on the intercom. Only Malcolm understood; it was Bethany telling him the girls’ location.
Turning back, he whispered, “Sara? Allie? Are you in here?
Allie stood up. “Over here,” she said softly and waved.
Sara pulled her back down; a hunter was coming into the room from the opposite door. Malcolm hid behind a desk and the three of them stayed quiet, waiting for the man to finish his search and leave. When he was finished, he walked out the door right by Malcolm, not spotting them.
Malcolm got up and came to the girls. “Come on, lasses, let’s get you two to safety.”
As he led them out, several grenades rolled in. The three of them ducked for cover.
Several explosions tore through the room; Allie was tossed to the wall before slumping like a ragdoll to the floor, unconscious.
Stella Taylor and Bethany came around t
he corner and stopped. They watched six hunters that were waiting with their guns in their hands, waiting for the smoke to clear so they could go into the outer room. They had tossed in several grenades and not a sound was heard from Allie, Sara, or Malcolm. Bethany and Stella separated, taking different sides facing the men. Bethany gave the signal to attack.
Their eyes became black and their fingernails grew as they stepped out from the shadows and charged the men. Each shrieking as they charged, they ran toward the men in attack mode.
The men spun, fired. Each woman was hit at least once, before they collided, the women tearing them apart. The second man Stella attacked was not fearful and fought back; he managed to break away for an instant and set off a grenade between them before his death. Stella saw the grenade and covered it with her body, which shaped the blast and protected her Queen. But the blast tore a hole in her side, and she lay on top of the man, shredded by the grenade.
Bethany easily killed the others and after the explosion, checked on Stella. Stella was barely alive but would survive the ordeal if cared for. Bethany left her side and went into the outer room looking for survivors from the grenades. She peered through the smoke and found Allie and shook her.
Allie, waking from her haze, moaned in pain. Bethany helped her to her feet.
“Allie, you are the only one left. You have to get to safety. Mrs. Taylor is injured. I will get her to safety but you have to leave right now.” She pointed at the door and then placed her necklace around Allie’s neck. “This is the key that will open all the doors for you. Find the others and give it to Shelby. Tell her not to forget what I have taught her and to take my gift. Do you hear me, Allie? She can’t rule without it. Now give me your hand and I will make you stronger.”
Allie extended her hand. Her mind was a jumble of thoughts. Bethany was talking about Shelby, the girl who hated her, and she wanted her to give Shelby a gift so she could rule. Perhaps be Queen? Never, she thought as Bethany’s eyes turned white and she bit into Allie’s hand and gave her some of her blood. Allie winced in pain but stayed on her feet.
Moments later she felt fine – better than fine, in fact: the pain and aching in her body from the blast were gone. She felt good as new, energy coursing through her veins.
Bethany wished her good luck, went back out, picked up Stella, and carried her down the hall.
Allie turned and saw the outer door and started to make her way to it. Somehow during their earlier dive she and her friends had separated. Allie peered through the dense smoke and while coughing and waving her hands to clear the dust, she walked through the room and tripped over a foot that belonged to Sara. The room had been destroyed and the ceiling had partially fallen. She crawled to girl, who was trapped under a beam. With her super strength, Allie was able to lift the beam and free her friend. When Sara was free she thanked Allie, and with her help, Sara began to limp toward the door leading to the tunnel.
“Wait, we can’t leave; we have to find Malcolm,” said Allie.
“We have to leave, the building will begin sealing itself up in a few minutes. If we are not out by then, we will be trapped here forever and this will become our tomb.” Sara limped to the door and waited for Allie.
Allie looked around; the room was clearing of the smoke and dust but not fast enough. “He has to be in here, we only need a minute to find him. Help me!” she screamed at Sara.
Sara reluctantly helped look around and then she saw Malcolm. She limped over to where he was. “Here he is.”
Allie came over. Like Sara, Malcolm was trapped, but by more than one beam, all crushing down on him in a crisscrossing pattern.
“We have to get him out.”
The last of the smoke clearing, Malcolm’s true condition was revealed. He lay under the heavy beams with blood trickling from his side. “We can’t, Allie. The beams have crushed him. We have to go.”
They heard a loud bell; the bell they would hear from Bethany. Sara looked at her friend with sadness. “There is nothing we can do; we have ten minutes to get the hell out of here.”
“What about Malcolm? What about Bethany? What about all the others?”
Sara was losing patience with the young girl and began yelling. “They are not coming, all right? They will all stay here and die while we take the children to safety; I thought you were smart enough to understand that!”
“What do you mean?” Allie began to tear up at the thought of all the lives that would be lost. “What do you mean they will all die?”
“They are all still here; they never left, Allie. They didn’t plan to leave.”
“What? They can leave, just like the children! If they need our help, we can help them leave.”
“Allie! They cannot leave!”
“We can help them, like the children.” She pleaded, the pain in the pit of her stomach growing larger. She began to shake.
“They are not like the children. They cannot go out in the sun; it would kill them just like the hunters would kill them!” Sara shouted, losing all her patience. She loved them and had known them longer, better than her friend – but they did not have time to argue: the clock was ticking.
“Mrs. Taylor, Bethany, and the others?” Allie was floored by the news. Faces swam around in her head. She had no idea what was happening. They had kept her moving so fast she didn’t know what the real plan was, and now it was too late. “My God! No!”
Sara came to her and took her by the shoulders and shook her. “Listen to me, Allie, this whole place is going to seal itself up like a vault, tunnels and all. It will all be buried, and if we don’t leave, we’ll be buried with it. Come on!” She pulled her forward and they moved to the door opening.
They heard coughing behind them and Allie turned and saw Malcolm moving. “He is alive. He is not dead! He is alive! We can save him!”
Time was running out and a decision had to be made. Allie was determined to stay, a quality Sara loved, but now it was a problem. Should she give in to this face in front of her and risk the safety of everyone? It would be so easy to lead with her heart like Allie.
Before Sara could reply, they heard a crackling from an overhead speaker. Allie dismissed it as noise, but Sara went rigid. Sara’s finely-tuned ears heard Bethany, reminding her of her duty and how important it was to get Allie to safety. Sara was overcome by a brief moment of rage: she didn’t need Bethany or anyone reminding her of anything or making decisions for her. She had already made the choice in her head. Bethany only confirmed what she had intended, though the thought of it being an order enraged her. Sara eyed the necklace around her friend’s neck.
“All right! Listen to me, Allie... let me show you the panel.” Sara showed Allie a panel by the door. “The code you need is 55891, then press enter. Repeat it back to me.”
“55891, then press enter,” said Allie as quickly as she could.
“Good.” Sara opened the outer door and showed Allie the tunnel. “At the end of the tunnel is a panel like the one I showed you. I will attend to Malcolm while you run down and put in the code. The code will stop the countdown so we can get Malcolm out. Run as fast as you can and get to the panel. Go!”
Nodding quickly, Allie sprinted up the corridor. She became a blur as she determined to save her friends. She reached the end of the tunnel and opened the panel by the door. She punched in the code, 5, 5, 8, 9, 1, and then pressed enter. The outside door clicked open and sunlight streamed into the tunnel. Allie put her hand to her face to block the light and after adjusting she turned around and looked down the tunnel. She was not expecting that to happen. Had she put in the wrong code?
A small monitor on the panel came on and called her name. She spun. It was Sara.
“Hey, girl. You are mighty hardheaded and stubborn. Malcolm says goodbye, and so do I… Goodbye, Allie. My job was to protect you and the children; and I’ve done so.” Sara had tears in her eyes and her voice broke as she talked. With trembling lips, she held a smile on her face. “I have lost a lot today: my
mother, the good people here, and now… and now… I am losing a good friend; my best friend. I brought you into this world and I am responsible for you.” Sara’s fingers instinctively reached out to Allie, wanting to hold her and comfort her. Wanting to tell her friend how special she was, wondering if she even had a clue. Instead, she put on her bravest smile and fought the tears back. “Goodbye, Allie, I love you.” With trembling fingers, she turned the monitor off.
Allie felt the hairs on the back of her neck tightening. “No! No! No!” She turned around to go back down the tunnel.
Sara pushed a button that sent out a wave that knocked Allie off her feet as she ran toward her. If only they had time to install this feature in the older tunnels, Sara thought. She punched in a code and the door in front of her sealed, followed immediately by a green beam coming from outside the door and blocking it. It expanded in the center and formed a circle that stretched to the edges of the tunnel. A blue beam shot from the door, touching the circle. It immediately turned into solid concrete – and began moving toward Allie, breaking bulbs in the ceiling as it moved.
Allie heard the smashing of the bulbs and saw the fast moving wall coming toward her. She pushed to her feet and stumbled out of the tunnel, sprawling out onto grass. The concrete circle stopped with a thunderous bang that shook the ground.
She sat outside on the green grass, staring at the rock face and smooth concrete. Behind it was her home. Behind it were her friends. She was on the side of a mountain and with her head in her hands, she sat and cried.
Chapter 30