The Purging

Os Vengare

One of the civilians moves forward to offer the man help. Ben snags the woman by the wrist and pulls her back, “There’s nothing you can do for him, look at the skin around his wounds, how the colour is changing. He’s infected.”

The civilian glares back at Ben and starts admonishing him sternly, “You don’t know that. This man is hurt and he needs help. I took an oath to aid those who need it and I won’t have some gang member with a crackpot theory prevent me from doing just that.” She wrenches her arm free and moves to the wounded man’s side, doing her best to console him. A member of the SWAT team tosses her a first aid kit and she begins treating the broken man's injuries.

Ben growls in frustration and says to the squad sergeant, “The longer we sit here jerkin’ off, the more likely it is we’re gonna get killed, so let’s make a plan and get movin’.” After a lengthy conversation, the group settles on acquiring sufficient transportation and getting on the highway. One of the police officers suggests going to the local elementary school to steal a bus. Despite Ben’s repeated objections, the rest of the group insists on bringing the injured shop keeper along. They make their way to the school relatively unmolested by the invaders, only occasionally needing to take a pot shot at a vampire skulking in the distance.

While Juanito and Ben hot wire the bus, the police patrol the surrounding area. With midnight approaching the crescent moon is high and bright. For the first time that evening, they have come to a location that seems to have no blood or bodies. The cool night air is poisoned by the smells and sounds of a city in shambles. An uncomfortable calm in the seemingly empty parking lot makes light of the group's dire situation. No sooner than they have the bus started, they hear high pitched snarling coming from the shadows.

From within the silent void half a dozen vampires descend on the group. Two of the surprised police are dragged off into the night kicking and screaming before they can get off a single shot. They fire blindly into the blackness in a desperate bid to beat back the monsters, but not one bullet makes contact. Leaping into the middle of the crowd of terrified civilians, a vampire spins in a circle, splitting open several victims. In a panic, one of the civilians lights a Molotov cocktail; only to have it knocked out his hands by the frenzied attacker.

The firebomb explodes at the man’s feet, setting his body alight. Flailing his limbs frantically, the man takes a running leap at the vampire that attacked him to spread the flames. It detonates immediately thereafter and the fire transfers to several other members of the crowd. Scrambling to extinguish the burning civilians in her midst, another police officer is taken unawares. She is decapitated instantly, and her body stumbles back and forth, spewing blood like a fountain. As they scatter at the sight of the headless cop, three more civilians are easy pickings for the famished creatures.

In the ensuing confusion, the police try to corral the few survivors onto the school bus. Juanito and Ben cover their retreat, firing on the vampires from the vehicle's windows. A tidal wave of buckshot stalls the monsters for the few precious seconds required. With the final survivor aboard the vehicle, the squad sergeant grabs the wheel and they take off. The vampires are not dissuaded and begin chasing down the speeding transport. Ben kicks open the back door and begins tossing bottle after bottle of flaming alcohol out at the pursuers, but it doesn’t even slow them down.

Even at top speed, the bus is unable to outrun the remaining vampires. Streaking up to the sides of the vehicle, they smash the windows, throwing shards of splintered glass into the faces of the petrified passengers. Two of the horrified humans are pulled out of the windows and thrown under the wheels of the speeding bus. Ben and Juanito unload their shotguns point blank into the open mouths of the unwelcome guests, dislodging them from their perches. Tired and injured, the vampires fall ever further behind the bus until they fade completely from view.