Reign of Blood by Alexia Purdy Page A

of myself by venturing into the shadows where I could breathe my last breath for sure. I hated it. I wanted to smother them in their darkness, so that they could meet the light, the ever-so-unforgiving sunlight and die for good this time.
    I didn’t care that they had been human once. They had been my neighbors, friends, acquaintances. I had found out immediately that once you turned, once you were infected, you were never the same again. You would disappear and leave a ravaged, hungry beast in your place. You could turn from a bite or, like most, from the contagious properties of the viral epidemic. Get either one and you were toast. Some would die from it immediately, unable to host the devastating viral infection. Those were the lucky ones. I wasn’t so lucky at all.
    I pulled up near the double door exit where I had made my escape. I paused, scanning around me for any strange movement. The two large parking structures stood like mountainous gates to each side of this access road. The casino was in front of me, leading toward the right with its expansive Greco-Roman facade, as fake as it could be but nonetheless massive. I wondered if any of the rooms up there with the curtains still drawn were crawling with vampires. I found it funny that the casinos, for the most part, had remained intact. It was more of the downtown and older buildings that were crumbling to pieces. I guess they weren’t meant to last forever. Still, if people were still around, maybe they would have survived daily use and abuse better.
    I finally slipped out of the van, shaking off my reverie to concentrate on the mission at hand. Opening the rear hatch again, I pulled out a crate full of more-powerful ammunition: a grenade thrower, hand grenades and my crossbow. I smiled as I loaded myself up with all the goodies. I rarely used them because of the noise factor of the grenades. But this was no ordinary situation. I was willing to risk anything to take this hive out, even stir up the other hive pockets nearby. I almost truly wanted, no, prayed for them to show up and try to take me out again.
    Go ahead, take your best shot. I’m ready this time.
    I clipped on a wearable flashlight, one that hung around my chest like a beacon but was strapped down against me to avoid bouncing around and making it difficult to see. I stretched out and slipped both my machetes into my side sheaths, placed a couple grenades in a pack on my belt and held a grenade in one hand as I made my way forward, ready to swing the doors open and bring death to them.
    The four vampires that had baked in the sun were nothing more than four charred piles of ash, softly floating away in the afternoon breeze. I frowned, kicking one of the piles and sending it into the atmosphere like a dance of confetti. Narrowing my eyes, I crouched forward to grab the handle of the door, feeling the warm metal under my fingers. It vibrated like it was on fire, almost burning my skin. Clenching my teeth, I sucked in a deep breath and pulled back with the most force I could muster. The ferals were not there. Nothing was there to even say they had been there. I propped the door open and readied myself, walking carefully inside, briskly but quietly. The light flashed around with the movement of my chest but created a nice area of vision for me.
    I was already at the disgusting aquarium when I heard them. Glancing about the room, I saw them ducking out of store fronts and from behind pillars, dozens of them. I gulped, trying to keep my legs readied to bolt. I backed away a little bit and found that my movement made them hurry toward me even faster, groaning and hissing as I moved away. I retrieved four grenades, pulling the pins and waited as I held steady, my heart pounding like a drummer in my head. As I eased into the hall again, I pulled my arms back and flung the grenades, one by one, as high up as I could to the far walls. I turned to head out again toward the sweet sun that beckoned me from the