Reckless: Nosphorus: Part II - Act 1
by redmoon
Nosphorus: Part II - Act 1
Niki leapt onto the table top, lifting her stake threateningly. She was mentally kicking herself for neglecting to slip her shotgun into her jacket. She turned around quickly as the window next to their table shattered. Addison ducked out of sight under the table as the glass rained down over them. Another window was broken inwards a few seconds later. The infected from the street began pouring in, moving easily over the window sill and throwing chairs and tables out of their way with inhuman strength.
Niki kicked the boy in the yellow raincoat in the face, sending him flying back out the window into the crowds of gathering infected. The Slayer hopped down from the table and set about dispatching the customers and serving staff. It was no easy task.
The waitress who had served them threw herself at Niki’s throat, clutching tightly. The Slayer smashed her own forehead into the waitress’ face, sending the woman stumbling backwards, only to have three white-eyed customers replace her.
As Niki fought, she realized that not all the customers in the café were infected with the Plague. A woman clutched her child in the corner as the zombie-like creatures moved in towards the Slayer. A man with a black suit and a briefcase stood in the corner, apparently thinking this was all some sort of joke, as he had a smile on his lips. A business woman picked up her own dossier and smashed it across the head of the nearest infected person, succeeding only in diverting it’s attention.
Niki ducked under a swing and jabbed hard to the ribs, trying to make her way over to the business woman as the infected began to swarm about her as well. She was caught, however, by a Plague sufferer who fell to his knees and grabbed for her legs. She fell to the floor and delivered a heel to his face, rolling away in time to avoid the pounce of the boy in the yellow raincoat.
Three pairs of hands hauled the Slayer to her feet and held her arms as the little boy got to his feet. As the business woman screamed, Niki turned her head to see what was going on. As two of the infected held her, the Irish man with the neatly combed red hair and muttonchops approached her. Unlike the zombies, he seemed quite in control of his faculties. Amid the sea of expressionless faces and pinhole pupils, his face was serene and... and suddenly vampiric.
Niki blinked as his face transformed into that of a vampire. An ordinary vampire. She groaned as the little boy’s fist drove into her gut. For a sixty five pound kid, he packed some serious power. She struggled against the iron grip of the infected, finally freeing one hand to break the nose of the ones holding her other. She leapt into the air and seized a light fixture, swinging her legs in a wide circle, catching the faces of the surrounding assailants.
Naturally, the kick went above the head of the little boy, who leapt up to grab her ankle. The added weight, along with the aborted kick, was too much for the fixture, which gave way and sent both back to the floor.
Niki was back on her feet in half a second, jumping over the unconscious bodies to throw the Irishman off the business woman. She gasped. As the Armani suit was thrown aside, the woman was revealed – her neck torn open, much more brutal a wound than she had ever seen inflicted by a vampire. The woman’s eyes were rolled back in her head and her suit was drenched in blood. Nearly all that remained of her neck was the spine, the tendons cut and the trachea and esophagus shorn away. The woman sank to the floor in the broad pool of blood.
The Slayer turned angrily to the vamp in the Armani suit. Before her eyes could even reach him, she felt his hands shove her like a bulldozer. Niki flew backwards across the room to land across a small table which shattered under her.
Several faces assembled over her fallen form, all with eyes white and faces blank. Through bleary eyes, Niki heard the crash of the kitchen door being kicked in. She saw the faces of those standing over her all turn as one in the same direction.
“It’s Smile-Time, baby,” Pearce grinned as he stepped over the remains of the door. The vamp in the Armani suit immediately backed away into the nearest dark corner. The sun was just over the Eastern horizon, still blocked by buildings and high-rises, and now that the lights had been torn from their closed circuit by Niki’s acrobatics, the café was only dimly lit.
One of the infected customers took Pearce by the shoulder and roughly spun him face to face. The vampire’s head snapped back as the fist found his face. He laughed , bringing his fingers to his bloodied nose. “Ow, you bitch!” Pearce slapped the young man across the face with such force as to send him to his knees. The vampire touched the back of the infected man’s head with three fingers while standing as far from him as possible. “Well, Dan,” Pearce said in a nasal voice, “it looks like he’s goin’ for the field goal.” And bringing his leg back in an exaggerated manner, he kicked the man in his down-turned face so hard it broke the man’s neck. “Ooh! He’ll have to sit this one out, Dan!”
Niki was pulled to her feet by the two infected who were left to deal with her. Feigning weakness, she let them pull her loosely to her feet, then spun hard and drove the wooden table leg into the one’s chest. He fell to the floor, bleeding profusely and rasping with each breath. The Slayer raised an eyebrow. “Well, they’re not exactly vamps.”
“Here’s the parade,” she heard Pearce say as she caught the other infected man’s arm and twisted it hard. “And here’s the part that makes you smile.” Niki frowned in amazement as the plague suffer flew across the room, twisting in mid air before he slammed into the rear wall, his body crumpling to the floor. “Now that’s gotta make you smile.” Pearce grinned as he kicked another city worker in the chest, but his smile faded as his foot was caught by the man in the reflective vest and he was thrown to the floor. “Oh come on!” The vampire shouted angrily. “That wasn’t a little bit funny?”
Niki caught the city worker by the throat from behind and slashed it open with the sharp edge of the wooden table shard. She helped Pearce to his feet and looked to the dark corner wherein the Nosphorus had taken refuge. He was gone.
“That’s right: You run like a little girl too!” Pearce shouted at the retreating vamp in the Armani suit. After a moment he turned to the Slayer. “You okay?” Pearce laid a hand on Niki’s shoulder.
Niki blinked uncertainly and turned towards the broken windows. The sun was just peeking over the buildings and the infected who could still walk were gone. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine.”
“This way.” Addison motioned from the broken kitchen door. “There’s a way into the sewers. We best get moving before he sends for reinforcements.” Pearce nodded and dashed back out the way he had come.
Niki waited a moment longer, looking down at the body of the fallen business woman. The other uninfected customers had all fled, leaving only this one innocent bystander a victim. Then the corpse’s eyes opened, white and lifeless.
Niki backpedaled and dashed out of the café after Addison. Another day, another battlefield.
Logan raced down the steps into the Nail Biter. He sighed a breath of relief which was answered collectively by the customers of the bar. He was no crazed vampire —foaming at the mouth— and everyone he hoped to see safe and sound were sitting at the bar drinking, albeit dejectedly.
Logan would take dejected over dismembered any day.
“Logan,” Niki’s eyes brightened. Then she frowned. “Took you frickin’ long enough!”
The man in the brown blazer shrugged. “I just heard! Scuttlebutt travels fast, but give me a break! I live in Freeport!”
“Drink, Mr. Kilpatrick?” An unfamiliar voice asked.
Logan frowned, sitting down next to Niki. Pearce and Addison were trying to ignore him, the Watcher nursing his jinn, the vampire holding his iced scotch to his bruised face. “Do I know you?” the man in the blazer and khakis asked, glancing uncertainly from the demon behind the bar to the Slayer beside him.
“The name’s Hobbs,” the demon smiled, “I never forget a face.” He slid a beer down the bar to Logan, who caught it, still harboring his suspicious frown.
“But you’ve never seen my face, until now...”
Hobbs shrugged, as if annoyed by the human’s questions. “Since when is memory such a linear thing? This position opened up and I took it. Diego thinks I have a flare for socializing with customers.”
Logan shrugged and shook his head, turning his attention to Niki. “So what happened?”
“We got creamed,” Pearce said over her shoulder, taking a sip of the drink he had been holding to his face. “And not in the good way.”
“If the Nosphorus hadn’t retreated, he could have easily killed or turned us both,” Niki clarified. “He had half the island beating the living... and non-living crap out of us.”
“We need to take this son of a bitch out before this gets out of hand,” Pearce returned the glass to his face.
Niki sighed. “We need a plan... a really kickass plan.”
Logan nodded, taking a swig of beer and staring along with the rest at the shelves of glasses behind Hobbs. Finally, Logan set his jaw and sighed. “Yeah... I got nothing.”
Then Logan, the vampire and the Slayer all turned to look at the figure sitting at the end of the bar. The Watcher sighed. “Amateurs.”
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