THE VAMPIRE UNDERGROUND

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

“Nooooo!” Brin screamed.

A set of sharp, elongated fingernails dug their way into her right ankle, and she could feel the warm breath of a dozen vampires wafting against it. Brin shook her feet up and down, sideways and around, but she couldn’t stop herself. The creatures pulled her back.

In seconds she’d be landing in a pit of blood-thirsty vampires. 

“Nooooo!” she shouted again. “Stop—”

It was over. She was a goner.

But then: “We got you!” Dylan screamed as he grabbed Brin’s hands and started pulling her back inside the secret passageway. Lavender returned as well and grabbed Brin’s left arm and helped Dylan pull her back.

It was a tug-of-war like no other.

“Pull!” Dylan shouted. “Pull! Harder!”

“Pleeeeeease!” Brin shouted. She could feel teeth sliding against her ankle. “Hurry! They’re gonna bite me!”

Lavender leaned forward, stuck her foot out, and kicked a cloud of dirt past Brin’s ankle. It seemed a terrible idea, but the vamp closest to Brin coughed and fell back down against the bloodsuckers.

“Pull!” Dylan and Lavender screamed at the same time as Brin and her right foot—shoe and all—came swooping inside the passageway. She crashed against the ground, as did Dylan and Lavender.

Brin rolled over on her back and peered forward to see at least ten pale hands reaching through the opening.

“Oh my God,” she said, trying to catch her breath. “You saved me. You two saved me. If you hadn’t come back—”

“Just returning the favor,” Dylan said. “Come on! We’ve gotta get outta here!”

Lavender screamed as one of the vampires from below jumped toward the opening. The vampires below pushed him forward, and he started crawling through.

“You’re not gonna make it out alive!” he screamed.

The three humans ran at top speeds toward Paul’s shack, Brin the fastest one of all. They spun to the left, then to the right, then up a small corridor, then down another one. It was pitch black inside so Brin was running on instinct, allowing Dylan and Lavender to follow close behind. She slammed her chest into a wall, twice, before she finally spotted a light at the top of a thin hallway.

“There!” Brin screamed. “Over there! Follow m—”

“AAAHHH!” a group of vampires screamed from behind Lavender.

“Oh shit!” Lavender screamed. “They’re coming!”

“Oh my God!” Brin shouted. “Hurry!”

One vampire from behind was charging so fast that his hands brushed against the back of Dylan’s sweatshirt.

“Run!” Brin screamed. “We’re almost there!”

Brin saw the opening to Paul’s shack. She forgot to breathe. She forgot to think. She just barreled toward the entrance with every ounce of her being.

She jumped past the door and stopped to turn around. Lavender leapt through the entryway a second later, but Dylan was lagging behind.

“Dylan!” Brin shouted. “Come on!”

A vampire had a grasp on Dylan’s arm, but Dylan pulled away and even took a second to hock a loogie at the vampire’s horrid face.

He ran inside and Brin tried to push the metallic door shut.

But before it would close all the way, a courageous vamp gripped the side of the entryway. Brin tried to shove the door closed, but the vampire’s hands blocked it. 

“Lavender! Dylan! Help me!”

The other two came to Brin’s rescue and started pushing against the two hands. But this vampire was strong; he wasn’t giving up.

“Push!” Brin shouted. She could feel pellets of sweat dripping down her forehead. “Push! For God’s sake!”

“Come on!” Dylan screamed. “Let’s push at the same time! Ready? One! Two!”

“THREE!” The trio shouted as they slammed the door shut with one mighty push, severing the hands from the vampire’s body.

Brin locked the door and jumped back.

“Ewww!” Lavender said, staring down at the hands.

“Come on!” Brin said, trying to ignore the ugly site of amputated body parts, as well as the loud banging from all the vampires behind the door. She looked up to see the exit to Paul’s home. “We have to climb up.”

Brin stayed behind and waited for Dylan and Lavender to climb to the top and reach the front door. Then, when the banging behind her went silent, signaling to her that the vampires were headed back the other direction to find a different way to the top, Brin leapt up to the top floor of Paul’s shack and crawled toward the front door.

“Do we just go?” Lavender said.

“Do you think they’re out there?” Dylan added.

“We don’t have a choice,” Brin said, resting her hand on the wooden doorknob. “It’s now or never. Let’s go!”

Brin opened the door and the trio rushed out into the early morning sunlight.