Finally Alucard's little sister: see last chapter.
Editor Cain: That thing with Darkseekers was strange.
Alucard's little sister: It seemed like a good idea at the time. Also, don't try what Leona is going to do to a K-car (because I don't think it would work in real life.)
Shipyard
Leona jumped up and down as the metal shutters opened. She ran up the stairs and nudged John awake. "Hey, John, wake up," she cried. "The sun is up today! We're going to the shipyard!"
After breakfast, Paul went into the basement and came back with a blowtorch. "Leon, go get the other vehicle," said Paul. "I think the keys are in the junk drawer."
"I'm on it, Dad," said Leona. She opened the drawer next to the refrigerator and searched through a pile of keys.
"So, I take it were all going to the shipyard," said John.
"You got that right, Bones, the shipyard is in Bullets territory," said Paul. "Don't worry, it won't take too long. Maybe just half the day."
Leona pulled out a key. "I got it. I'll be right back." She ran out the front door. She walked over to the garage of the other house and opened it. Inside the garage there was a large black truck. Leona used the key to unlock the truck and drive it into the middle of the road. She got out of the truck and back into the house. She opened the cabinet next to the door and pulled out a hunting rifle and three boxes of 12 bullets. "Ok, I'm ready, how about you two?"
Paul grabbed a shotgun. "I'm ready now," he said. "I'm driving." He walked out the door.
John walked over to Leona was a blow torch. "Do I need a weapon," he asked.
"Oh no," said Leona. "You're good to go with that. Now, let's go before he leaves us behind. "
When they got in the truck, Leona sat in the middle. The weapons were placed in the truck bed. She pointed her finger at Paul. "No driving like a maniac in the truck," she said. "Only takes one good hit to make the blowtorch explode."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it," growled Paul. "I'm not that stupid." He drove the speed limit over to a large building by the river. It was covered with rust. Through the rust were the words 'London Navel Shipyard'. He parked the truck and got out. "I forgot to ask, but did anyone forget anything?"
"No," said Leona. "Now get out, John, so I can."
John got out and followed Paul to the back of the truck. "So, how's this going down," he asked.
"Simple," said Paul. He pulled the blowtorch out and handed it to John. He then grabbed the hunting rifle and handed it to Leona before grabbing his shotgun. "You, with the torch will cut a chunk of a ship off. Then..." he pulled out a large U shaped magnet from a toolbox in the truck bed, "you put this on it and pull it enough so it falls onto a cart inside the building. After that well, we'll just go on from there."
Leona loaded her rifle. "You ready?"
Paul checked his shotgun. "I'm set, how about you, Bones?"
John looked down at the blowtorch. "I guess, I really don't know."
"Great," said Paul, "Let's go into the building." He slung the shotgun onto his shoulder. "Follow me."
"Psst," whispered John to Leona. "Have you been inside there before?"
She nodded. "Yeah, once or twice. It's not too bad. You just have to think of it as walking into a video game." She smiled. "Mind you, it's a violent video game," she added.
"Oh," said John.
Paul opened the door.
The shipyard building was lit only by emergency lights, which only lit up some spots. There was one battleship sitting on dry dock and two others in water.
Paul pointed to the one out of water. "That's the one we will be cutting," he said. "We'll get a fuse box from one that is in the water."
"Ok," said Leona. She walked over to a tool shelf by the left side of the door. She grabbed a can of red spray paint and a roll of measuring tape. "You two stay here. I'll mark the chunk off."
John looked around as Leona walked over to the grounded battleship and discovered glowing eyes by the other battleships. He stared at them until he noticed more of them. Five pairs of eyes in all. He grabbed Paul's sleeve and tugged on it. "We're being watched," he said.
"I know," said Paul. "We're surrounded." He pointed up at the rafters.
John looked up and discovered twelve Darkseekers. "Holy crap," he cried. He noticed that they weren't attacking them. "What are they waiting for?"
"You," said Paul. "It's you they're waiting for. You see, they hate that blowtorch of yours and so long as you're not using it on steel, they won't attack."
"But as soon as you use it on that ship over there," said Leona walking back. "They will attack. That's where we come in. We defend you like some kind of video game. So, don't worry about the Darkseekers. Let us know when you're ready."
John slowly walked over to the grounded ship. He stared at the door shape marking and sighed. He turned to Paul and Leona. "You know, I've never used one of these things before," he said.
Paul walked over to John. "It's like using a knife, made of fire," said Paul. "Here I'll turn it on for you." He turned the blowtorch on for John. "Then, just squeeze the trigger as you point it at the metal. Got it? You're ready? "
"I think I'm as ready as I'll ever be," said John.
Leona walked over to the two of them. She turned her back to John.
Paul did the same. "Like Leon said earlier, we've got your back don't worry about the Darkseekers," he said.
As soon as John put the blowtorch to the boat, the Darkseekers began to drop from the rafters and attack. Some of them had large third degree burns on them.
Leona and Paul began to take them out one at a time.
One Darkseeker rounded the ship and was a foot from John. He saw it in the corner of his eye. "Help," he cried as he pushed himself away from the thing. Everything was turned to silent slow motion to John as he dodged the Darkseeker's hand. Suddenly, the Darkseeker's head exploded. John could hear the spent cartridge fall to the floor and Leona reloading her rifle.
"Keep going," shouted Leona. "You can think about what happened later! If we stay too long we might run out of ammunition and that wouldn't be a good thing. So please, work quickly."
"Right, sorry," said John. A few minutes later he turned the blow torch off and turned around. "Done."
The five remaining Darkseekers, from the original 18 that attacked, ran off.
Paul sighed and dropped his shotgun to the floor. "Glad that's over," he said. "I only had two shells left."
"I have enough," said Leona. "So, are you alright, John, that Darkseeker didn't get ya did it?"
"It almost did but you have an amazing shot," John said.
"Thanks," she said.
Paul rolled his eyes. "If your head gets any bigger it won't fit in the truck," he said. "Anyway, I'll take care of this plate." He walked away.
Leona checked her watch. "Where does the day go?" She looked over at John. "Are you going to be ok?"
The adrenalin from being attacked left John and he collapsed on to his knees. He looked down at the floor then to Leona. "I'm wiped out...and I can't seem to get up."
Leona walked over to him and knelt down beside him. She put her hand on his shoulder. "I know, it's terrifying the first time you're attacked," she said. She stood up. "I have an idea, I'll find you a car and you can recover over at the Pub. What do you think?"
John sighed. He held out his hand for Leona who helped him get up onto his feet. "What about you two?"
"Don't worry about us," she said. "We've been in this kind of situation before so, we're not affected by it. Besides we still need to get the fuse box from one of the ships." She gave him a smile. "Let's go find a car." She grabbed a bucket of water on her way out the door. "Ok, pick a car, I'll be right back." She set the bucket down and ran over to the truck. She took out a key sized piece of straight metal, tweezers, and firemen's gloves. She walked back to John. "Did you find a good car?"
"That looks like it's still one piece," he said pointing to a powder blue K-car.
They walked over to the K-car. Unlike many of the other cars, all four tires had air in them. In fact, it looked like it was untouched since the quarantine.
Leona bent down and picked up an end of a large car-shaped tarp. "This is why it's still in good shape. Anyway, hand me the blowtorch," she said.
He handed her the blowtorch and she heated the key shape metal to a white hot. With the tweezers she put the white-hot key into the rear passenger door for a few minutes. She then pulled it out and threw it into the bucket of water which turned to steam. After the steam died down, Leona grabbed the key and pulled it out. "Ok, here we go." She put it in the front passenger's side door and unlocked it. She opened the door then the glove compartment. "Let's see what's in here." She pulled out a lighter, a hunter's knife, a pair of handcuffs and the car's registration. She put the knife in her belt loop, the lighter in her pocket and put the handcuffs on the seat. She read the registration. "Says here that the car belongs to a Desmond Hughes. Well, I'm sure he won't mind if you 'borrow' his car." She put it back along with the handcuffs. She gave him the key. "Here you go, you're all set. Have fun at the pub." Leona closed the passenger door.
"Thanks," he said. He got in the driver's seat and turned the car on. He gave Leona one more look in the rear-view mirror as he drove out of the parking lot and to the pub.
Leona grabbed the blowtorch left the bucket half-filled with water and walked back to the truck.
Paul was strapping the large metal plate to the truck. He looked over at Leona. "What have you been doing? Where's Bones?"
"Oh, I unlocked a K-car and he went to the pub," she said. "He's pretty shook up about nearly getting attacked. Now you're ready to get the fuse box?"
"You bet I am, let's go," he said.
At the pub, John collapsed on the floor. He sighed. "How in the world could she be so calm?" He ran his finger through his hair. "Oh, boy." That's when he heard scratching sound on the door. He turned to see Shakespeare, the black Great Dane, scratching at the door wanting to get in. John smiled and opened the door. "You always seem to know when I really need you, eh, Shadow?" He rubbed Shakespeare's floppy ears. "Are you physic?"
"Woof," said Shakespeare, tail wagging. He licked John's face.
"Gee, thanks," said John. "I love you, too, Shadow." He took a nap with Shakespeare using him as a pillow.
As the sun went down, John and Shakespeare parted ways and John drove back to the duplex. He parked Desmond's K-car in the driveway right next to the station wagon. He walked into a dark house. "What's going on?"
Leona walked over with a flashlight. "Dad's switching the current fuse box with the one from the ship."
"Oh, how did it go getting that," asked John.
She shrugged. "It was ok," she said. "Nothing too special happened. I mean we did kill the rest of the Darkseekers in there."
The lights came back on. "I'd hate to see what you think is crazy," said John.
"Ok, the switch is complete, push the button," shouted Paul from the basement.
Leona grabbed the garage door opener and pushed the button.
In the basement, Paul dove into a corner away from the fuse box. He lightly covered his ears. Slowly, he could hear the metal shutters close. He waited until everything was silent. He took his hands away from his ears. The lights were still on and the fuse box was still in one piece. "It worked," he cried. Muttering under his breath, "And, that's when the thing goes boom." He walked up the stairs and spotted John. "Hey, Bones, how's the K-car?"
"It's actually in great shape for just sitting there for three or more years," John said.
"That's great we'll add it to our arsenal of cars," said Paul. "And, if you thought today was crazy, just wait 'til tomorrow. We'll be cutting and joining this house with the one next door and I'll be putting up the metal shutter for the front to the other house."
"Do you ever have a day where you do absolutely nothing?"
"Once in a blue moon," sighed Leona.