It was then he could open his eyes and survey what had happened, where he was, what he had survived. The airport was less than a hundred metres to his right. He was in a trench that separated the runways from a vast customs holding area for large containers. He had landed in a stretch of water roughly ten feet across and who knew how deep. What he did know was he had been metres away from being completely obliterated. The plane lay in front of him, burning and in pieces. Nick could see, over the trench, more flames, giving him the indication the plane had landed and skidded to this point, half stopped by the trench.
Nick made his way to the bank and heaved himself up, though his movements were like he was weighed down with lead. His skull pounded and it was then the blinding, rushing and continuous numbing pain made way for another sound. Frantic screaming. He wobbled on his hands and knees but crawled to the top of the trench and looked out over the wreck. Emergency services were on hand. Nick could make out the only real light besides the flames was the constant circular motion of the red and blue, but he also saw something else. Nick squinted to get a better look.
They were being attacked. Vampires had descended onto the scene. Nick could tell they were feeding off people. Cars had been stopped on the highway past the airport, and people were running out of their vehicles only to be chased down and slaughtered. Panic and chaos reigned. The situation was completely out of control. The people were defenceless. Nick struggled to get to his feet but did so. He was so exhausted he could barely open his eyes, but he put one foot in front of the other towards the bedlam. He wrung his hands, trying to get his nails, his strength, anything, but they were not coming. He didn’t know why, and he knew he would be a sitting duck without powers…he also knew that he couldn’t walk away, strength or no strength, that’s just not who he was. But there was no way he could possibly fight all these alone and survive.
What sort of man would he be to run?
A smart one perhaps, but not one that could ever look Nicole in the eye again. Not one that she loved. In the moment when all he wanted to do was hold her one last time; he ran headlong into the fray, leaping on top of a vampire that had just pounced on a woman. He pulled the vampire off her and shoved him away. “Go!” he yelled as the vampire rose and tackled him to the ground. “Run!”
“I can’t! My baby!”
Nick pressed the vampire, with a full extension of his arm, away from himself. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the woman trying to get into her car, but in her way were two more of them. One was staring at her, and the other was crawling on the car appearing to smell the infant inside. He flipped the vampire off him with all his might onto his side. He grabbed a rock as he rolled over and swung with everything he had across its head. Again and again. He had no doubt it wouldn’t kill him. He just needed time, seconds even, to help her.
The woman was terrified, screaming at them to leave her alone and to leave her baby alone. The one facing her stalked forward, the one on top of the car had almost reached the door handle. Nick bolted forward, and shoving the woman out of the way, burying his shoulder into the stalking vamp, lifting him up and charging into the side of the car. The impact drove the top vamp off and onto the ground. Nick lashed out with fury at the vamp he had hit, driving fast knees directly to his face so that his head dented the driver side door. Nick’s head rose as the second vamp broke through the driver window with its arms, grabbing the baby and yanking it free of the vehicle. “Holden! NO!”
Nick heard both the cries of the mother and the child. The vampire looked down at the infant with a hunger that could not be reasoned with, opening its mouth and lowering it down on the small neck. Nick had no time to go around. He leapt on to the car and launched himself forward, cracking the vampire across the face with a fist.
The contact was true, and the vampire was rocked back. Nick snatched the child from its grasp with a trembling right hand, sure he had broken several bones. As Nick gripped the child, wrapped in a pink blanket, time seemed to slow. His hand stopped trembling. The pain ended just as the crying had stopped. Flashes appeared in Nick’s mind. Giggling. Crying. Babies. A baby? Yes. One. He could hear it now. The same one that he had heard when with the Forgotten.
A prickling sensation came over his fingertips and he opened his eyes. The mother had just run around the car, desperate for her daughter. “Here you go...” Nick said evenly as mother and daughter were reunited.
“Look out!” she screamed, but Nick heard it. The vampire behind him had lunged in attack. Nick twisted his whole body and swiped his fingers across the vampire’s chest. The strike caused the vampire to fall forward, blood flowing from the wound. Nick looked at
