As I walked around a fire hydrant flakey with rust and the husk of an old postal box my brother’s face lit up orange with the flames in the building as the roof toppled inward with a loud crackling crash. His vampires whooped. A moment’s hesitation and reason flashed through my mind. Our eyes locked and my grip tightened on the stock of my rifle. It seemed a sudden comprehension drew his face tight but then he hesitated as if another thought had occurred to him and it was in that moment that I made my move.
I had my rifle pulled against my shoulder before his lips began to move and I squeezed off two quick shots as his shout started. My first shot caught the vampire to the right of my brother in the throat. It fell instantly to the ground clutching at its neck and sliding around on the ground as its legs spasmed. The next bullet ripped into the short balding vamp’s shoulder spinning him around and sending him tumbling to the ground dropping his gun to the pavement with a clatter. My brother jerked his gun up and four machine guns roared as he, the twins and the young vamp with an elderly body fired. The twins bellowed and walked forward sweeping their guns back and forth. I dove behind a long boxy car whose body lay on the ground and crouched behind one of its tires. A scaly white ring clung to parts of the cracked black rubber. The car shook and shuttered as the bullets tore into the siding with loud pops. A hail of bullets smacked into the pavement around the car and ricocheted off the buildings behind me stinging my skin with chips. I peeked around the tire. The squat vampire was back up, his right arm hanging loosely against one side. My brother had his rifle up and his eyes were gleaming. The two humans screamed into the night and I knew that it wouldn’t be long before the rest of my brother’s party would arrive.
The sun was beginning its decent and was moving towards my brother’s position. Wind whistled down the streets feeding the flames until the air was filled sparks, dancing shadows and their guttural roaring. I leapt out from behind the car and ran at a crouch for an alley firing in sweeping bursts. One of the brothers went down with a shriek firing his gun wildly into the air and along the ground as he fell. My brother moved calmly against the frantic backdrop simply tracking his barrel over me, and then fired. Everything fell silent except for its crack. I saw the bullet erupting from the barrel in a cloud of black and orange and then it ripped into my left side slinging me to the ground with the force of a giant fist. I rolled, leapt up, and then ducked behind a dumpster as bullets wind down the narrow alley. Blood oozed out of the wound, soaked into my undershirt, and rolled under my armpits. A ragged throbbing pulsed through the wound and the lukewarm blood took my warmth with it. I probed the wound with my index fingers and then recoiled as intense pain flared along the raw flesh as a smattering of bullets continued to bounce off the dumpster with unassuming metallic clicks. I ripped the bottom of my shirt off and tied it around the wound trying to cover it, gritting my teeth as the fabric drug across loose tendrils of flesh and as I shoved the cloth into the hole. Peeking out from behind the faded rusted brown of the dumpster got me a face full of metal chips. I spat the acrid ashy metal out. I was a fool.
My brother began to laugh a full-throated bull frog laugh that rolled across the town and echoed of its buildings. No one joined him. “You did always want to teach me a lesson older brother, didn’t you? Now you try to kill me after I gave you a gift more precious than life itself. You wouldn’t have survived that shot just now if it weren’t for me. I swear you have some kind of deep-seated hatred for your own family.”
I leaned against the dumpster crouched down, thinking for a moment, and cursing myself under my breath. All they had to do was keep me pinned down until the rest arrived so that they could dispatch me like any other animal at bay. I studied the street for more cover, but I saw nothing but a fire hydrant and the car that I’d leapt out from behind. I could hear their boots crunching through the broken glass that littered the pavement as they approached the head of the alley from both sides. They muttered back and forth to one another fretfully. If my brother had ordered this before the rest of his vamps had arrived, he was more of a cocksure fool than I’d thought. They peered out around the corners trying to catch me at an angle, but I clung to the side of the dumpster sliding to the left corner and bade them hurry if they were going to come. I saw the first one before he saw me, just a shadow parting the smoke with a rifle held half at his hip. I fired and
