The Courier

The slow transformation of the land as Gerald drove changed imperceptably from temperate to dry. His tan hummer bounced along softly on well oiled shocks, the overgrown and rutted dirt road passing beneath oversized tires as smoothly as a town car on pavement. The sun was a burning ball slung low in the western sky, ready to dip below the horizon.

Gerald turned his head to the weapons rack that he had installed in place of a passenger seat. Within close reach were two shotguns, three water rifles, and a garden hose that was attatched to the pressurized tank that took up a fourth of his cargo bay in the back of his truck. Another fourth of his cargo bay was filled with an enormous gas tank shaped in a cylinder, while the remaining half was stacked with computers, energy rifles, and other relatively small but very expensive high tech equipment.

When the sun finally went down Gerald unconsciously pressed harder on the gas. Until the sun returned in the morning speed would be his only friend. He turned on his high powered floodlamps that served as headlights, allowing him to see the road clearly for any upcoming roadblocks or sharp turns.

The beginnings of a small town was coming into view, though it displayed no lights of its own. Fallen bricks and caved in roofs showed that no one had lived here for many years. Gerald barreled through, ignoring the faded white sign that in earlier days would have warned him not to exceed 30 mph.

Several hours later Gerald saw something appear at the edge of the range of his floodlamps. Weighing the decision to slow for a roadblock or to keep his speed up for other safety considerations, he grudgingly brought his foot to the brake pedal. He reached over and retreived the garden hose from its slot in the weapons rack.

Closer now, he could make out a stack of rusted out vehicles from before the cataclysm that had been purposefully laid out on the road in front of him. They were stacked about two high, and created a wall that reached about 100 feet in both directions from the road. Slowing even further, he noted that the wall had been well placed in an area where the ground in front of it was exceptionally rocky. It would force a normal road vehicle to stop, but his hummer could easily take the rugged ground if he took it slowly.

Gerald muttered to himself. "Damn. This is obviously a trap. If I go too slowly, they will catch me, and if I go too quickly and ruin an axle or a tire they will still get me. Guess I'll have to find something in between."

He swung left gradually, then made a sharp right to hit the edge of the road squarely. Suddenly it didn1t feel like he was in a town car anymore. His floodlights bobbed up and down, making it difficult for him to focus on anything for more than about two seconds at a time. His eyes darted from shadow to shadow, both looking for the easiest path and for anyone waiting in ambush. With a smile he realized that he didn1t see any burned out vehicles that had been overtaken in this elaborate trap, but the smile froze and then slowly dissapeared as he realized that the skeletons of any vehicles captured would probably be added to the backbone of the wall that he was even now circling.

Looking to his left at the edge of the wall in expectation of an ambush, he didn1t notice the row of bodies that lay across his path. Suddenly Gerald heard a loud thump from the underbody of the hummer. "What the hell?" he asked the air. He looked in his rear view mirror, seeing a line of bodies lift themselves to their feet and begin running towards his rumbling vehicle.

Even as he pushed his vehicle faster on the rocky ground in an attempt to circle the wall, he heard a tearing noise beneath him. His engine began revving higher and higher while his speed bled off. It was as if he was pushing in the clutch in a manual transmission. The tearing noise continued as a set of clawed hands ripped a hole in the floor beneath him. Letting go of the steering wheel, he scooted up in his seat while he blasted the groping hand with the garden hose.

"Damn, seems that he ripped out my drivetrain," Gerald swore to himself, pressing the gas and only getting a high revving. "Guess I'll have to hold out until dawn, then repair it."

Gerald looked over his shoulder at the line of running creatures that spread out behind him like a football line. They were quickly approaching his stopped truck, and Gerald shambled out of his driver side window, pulling his garden hose, a staff that lay under his seat, and a water rifle with him.

He climbed atop his roof, slung the shoulder strap of the rifle around his neck, and held the hose in his right hand and the staff in his left. As the line approached he bided his time until the closest creature was within 30 feet. In one motion he opened fire with the hose and knocked the staff on his roof three times. The night died around him as a globe of daylight emerged and rose from a small blue sphere that was strappd to the end of the staff with leather thongs. The vampires fell back in pain, their hands held up in front of their faces to shield from the burning light. The unlucky creatures caught in the blast of Geralds high pressure hose screamed as skin and facial parts splattered off.

Weary now, the crowd of vampires remained about 60 feet from Gerald, slowly circling him. Gerald remained standing, the staff held comfortably in his hand with its end resting on his roof.

"Wow, these vampires seem a lot more organized than any I've ran into before", Gerald mumbled to himself. As he looked around at the creatures surrounding him, he noticed that one of them stood a full two feet taller than any other. He wore a bright red cape fastened with a golden brooch over silver body armor. Keeping his eye on this vampire, he maintained his vigil.

Three hours later, after he began to grow bored, tired, and less observant, Gerald quickly ducked from a large chunk of metal that one of the vampires through at him. Trembling in anticipation of further combat, he noted that every vampire held a piece of steel from the rusting wall of cars beside them. He noted that the lead vampire was chastising the vampire who had thrown the first chunk and alerted him from his bored daze. Looking back at Gerald, the master vampire gave him a broad, evel smile.

"Now!!" the vampire roared, and suddenly chunks of steel flew at him from all directions. He ducked and jumped, but there was simply too much jagged metal coming at him to dodge. The first piece to hit him got him in the knee. As he collapsed in pain he was hit in the head by another chunk. All went dark as he realized he would never see the light of day again.

Gerald was right. He never did see the light of day again. Loping along the desert with his pack, he realized he liked it that way.