Station Hope (Book 1): Humanities Last Stand by Thomas Bach Page A

regular clothes.”
    “So all this time up until now you have only seen the slugs?”
    “Well yes,” I said. “How many kinds are there?”
    “There are just two kinds, the slugs and the royals. The royals are almost like we are except they live by sucking blood.”
    “What do you mean like us?” Ivy asked.
    “They dress and bath, they live in groups away from the slugs but they control the slugs. We call them the royals because they like to dress a bit flamboyant, like old Kings and Queens. They have a social order with one vampire in charge of the others, we thought.”
    “How do you know so much about them?” I asked.
    “Year's ago we fought a large group of them. That time we overwhelmed them. We took a few as prisoners. They don't speak very well but we were able to get a lot of information out of them. We found where their leader was and killed him. After that the attacks slowed until we thought we were safe.”
    “How many vampires attacked you? Where are they now.” I asked.
    He took a few more sips; it was obvious this was painful for him. “It's hard to say, there were so many. Slugs and Royals all mixed together, killing, feeding. If I had to guess, I would say there were over 5,000 of those God forsaken things but I can't be certain.”
    “Where are they now?” I repeated.
    “Moving north I guess, coming this way.”
    “Why do you say that, when did you see them last?”
    “I was in one of the last vehicles to get out of the settlement. We went north for 3 straight days never stopping. They followed but we managed to stay ahead of them. Once we slowed they attacked again. All I could do is run, and that's what I have been doing ever since. They killed my wife, my children! Those damn bastards!”
    I didn't want to keep asking but I needed to know. “When is the last time you saw one of them?”
    “The night of the last attack, that must be several weeks ago, I don't know for sure. The far off gaze returned, he had been in survival mode for so long time blurred together.
    “I do remember one thing from that night. Something that haunts me every time I close my eyes. The last group to attacked us was mostly Slugs, there were a few Royals, they were ordering the Slugs around. Then I remember seeing several Slugs move, almost in slow motion, to the side and fall to their knees. One large vampire emerged from the darkness. The other Royals turned to face him and bowed their heads as he passed. He was like their king or something. Dressed in a black flowing cape. His eyes, they penetrated me, I was looking at pure evil. And then, then.”
    David broke down weeping, the events of the last few weeks were almost too much to take.
    Ivy put her hand on his shoulder to provide a little comfort. “What Happened next?”
    David continued through the tears, “It was as if he sensed I was watching, there were no words exchanged, no movement at all. I was as if the Slugs knew what he wanted and they just did it. Two of them just dragged her in front of him.”
    “Who David, who did they drag in front of him?” Ivy asked. Her sweet, soft voice seem to provided no comfort.
    Tears were rolling down uncontrollably now, “My Wife! That bastard killed my wife in front of me! There was nothing I could do, I watched that bastard extinguish her life, He sank his fangs into her neck and drained her. I went crazy and ran.”
    Ivy gasped, she was crying now. The scene David painted in my mind was unbearable. This poor man had been through so much. But now I wondered what we were in for, were they headed our way now? And if so, what could we do about it. I had to know, I had to find out to protect Station Hope. This scavenging trip just turned into a scouting mission.
     

6
    We picked the store clean while David sat in the Dodge. Generators to light bulbs, anything we thought we could use. Half the cargo truck was full by the time we were finished. This was a good find especially for our first stop. David stared out