Chapter 8
Sunday, October 26th, 1985
Hill Valley
8:20 P. M.
Lewis awoke to bright flashes of light outside his window. "What the hell?" he muttered, getting up. "Are the boys communicating by Morse code again?"
His blood ran cold as he looked out. Right outside his fence were several people on fire, running around like headless chickens. However, they weren't ordinary people. Their inhuman cries and fangs convinced Lewis of that. "The vampires!" he gasped. Those flashes of light had been from the firetraps that had been planted outside his home. "Shit!"
He bolted down the hall to his children's room. Loretta was still asleep, but her brother Harold was up, watching the vampires through his window. "Woo! Look at 'em light up, Dad!" Harold whooped.
"I think we'll have to start monitoring those violent video games you like playing," Lewis informed Harold sternly. Harold pouted and went back to watching the vampires. Lewis softened and gave his son a hug. "Just keep that window tightly closed."
"Gotcha Dad," Harold said with a nod. Lewis kissed Loretta's head, then went to stand guard at the front door with a baseball bat. No vampire was coming in here to hurt his family tonight. Not on his watch.
Sunday, October 26th
9:01 P. M.
Lila, her fangs glistening with saliva, approached the mayor's house with a light step. Unlike most of the soulless vampires, she had flown rather than ran in. She laughed as she thought about all the other vampires, screaming in pain as they caught on fire and frightening away all their allies. It had been fun to watch them burn like human sparklers. Even more fun when they ran into others and set them on fire.
All more blood for me, she thought cheerily. Those other idiots can burn. Plus, I bet Biff will be very pleased I got the mayor! With a catlike leap, she crashed through an outside window into the kitchen.
Goldie Wilson himself happened to be on the scene, up late for this very reason. Lila laughed heartily as she saw the funny mask that he wore. Like that will save him from the terror of my fangs!
She stopped laughing when she realized the mask was to protect him from the blowtorch he wielded. Hissing, she jumped onto a counter and tried to strike him. The blue flame got to her hand first. She let out a high-pitched shriek and dashed to the door. Goldie followed, still waving his torch.
She battered down the door, planning to get out and sneak back in via a different window. But Goldie was still one step ahead of her. "There's no escape," he told her, pulling out a little remote.
Abruptly, Lila felt heat on her back. She whirled to see a wall of flame. In terror, she didn't even consider her wings, or forcing her way past Goldie. All she knew was that she was trapped by fire on all sides. Screaming in fear, she ran blindly into the fire.
Sunday, October 26th
9:48 P. M.
Lorraine winced as she heard another wail. "That's 14," she said, clutching George's arm tightly.
"Yup," George nodded, face white. "And they still keep coming."
"I'm glad Doc put some of those fire traps around our house too," Linda said as the wall of flames receded once more. "Fighting off those things back in 1985 was enough for me."
"It was enough for me too. Hopefully we'll be able to get rid of them once and for all after this." George said. "Then again, I shouldn't get my hopes up. Biff is a tough asshole."
"I hope the house doesn't burn down," Dave mumbled, half-asleep. Once again, he had fled Knight Apartments to seek refuge with his family.
"He planted them pretty far away. We should be safe," Lorraine said. "I'm worried about Marty. I wish he hadn't insisted on going out and helping Doc."
"He'll be okay, Mom," Linda said bravely. "Doc wouldn't let anything happen to him. They're too close for that."
George saw a vampire racing for their window at full speed and activated the remote. There was a flash of light from outside. "15," he said with a sigh.
Sunday, October 26th
10:34 P. M.
Biff frowned and checked his watch. "What's going on with these butt-heads? We left early so we could take the place tonight. I thought they'd be here by now."
"They'll get here eventually Biff," Match said, sadistically toying with Red the bum. "They're probably just having a little fun with the residents." He pointed out an approaching dot in the sky. "See, here comes a guy now."
The guy did a spectacular dive upon seeing Biff, slamming into the bully and knocking him to the ground. "Oof!" Biff retaliated by clawing the other vampire's face. "What's your problem?!"
"Tricked us!" the vampire hissed, trying to chew on Biff's neck. "Traitor!"
"What the hell are you talking about? Who are you calling a traitor?" Biff flung the vampire off him.
"Fire everywhere! We're dying! Many run so they won't die!"
"Fire?" Skinhead repeated, his eyes growing wide. "What's this about fire?"
"Brown!" Biff roared. "He saw it coming! He must have set booby traps! Oh, his blood is mine!"
There was a sudden wet "thunk" behind him. Biff turned to see Skinhead topple, a stake protruding from his chest. "Quite right, Tannen," Doc said, holding his stake gun. "Only you got that last statement back to front."
Biff snarled, his demon eyes flashing fire. "I have the advantage of numbers, Brown," he said confidently, sending a mental command to all the soulless who still lived. Most refused to come, too afraid of the fire. But enough answered the summons for him to feel secure. "I will crush you like a bug."
"That's what you thought the first time you tried to pull a stunt like this," Mystie reminded him, vamping and grabbing her stake gun tightly. "It didn't work so well then."
Biff glared at her. "Just for that, I'll make sure that your precious Emmett gets to watch as you're torn to bits. GET THEM!" he roared to his lackeys.
"Okay people!" Josie cried, rallying the troops. "Let's kicksome ass! CHARGE!"
The two groups collided. Gerry immediately slammed a stake into one of the soulless. "That's for my friends, you bastard," she hissed as he fell.
A female soulless grabbed Chris in a bear hug from behind and ripped into his throat. Tina blasted her with a shot from a flamethrower, and then pulled her lover to safety while she was distracted. The soulless followed, grabbing at Tina's shirt and setting it afire. Chris heaved a rock at the female's head while Tina quickly dropped and rolled.
Another ran for Louis and tried to claw him in his manhood. He seemed quite startled when Louis just smiled. "Sport cup," he explained, putting a stake through the vampire's heart. "I learned my lesson from last time."
Two arrows went sailing through the air, finding their marks in soulless eyes and flesh. Marty whistled and lowered his bow briefly. "Wow. That was good, considering I haven't done this in two years."
"Yeah," said Jennifer, grabbing more arrows from her quiver. "And if I recall correctly, you were pretty distracted the last time." Marty grinned at her briefly, then became serious again and returned to shooting.
The two groups struggled at a stalemate for a while. The souled vampires, hindered through their refusal to let any humans too close to the action, concentrated on keeping their ground as the soulless vampires surged against them. A few of the soulless fell, but most ignored their wounds and kept trying to break through.
Suddenly, a pair of soulless snatched Josephine from the fold and flew her to where Chris had set a tree on fire. She shrieked as one snapped her wing bones. "Bye bye," grinned the other, dropping her onto the blaze.
For a moment, everyone was certain that was the end of Josie. Then, quick as a flash, a new vampire sped in and caught her just inches above the flames. "You okay?" he asked, his eyes huge behind his glasses.
"Yeah, thanks to you," she said, breathing hard.
Match stared at the airborne couple in open-mouthed astonishment. "3-D?!" he yelled. "What the hell are you doing?"
3-D glared back. "My name is Dennis," he snapped, setting Josephine down. She sprinted back to her friends. "And for what I'm doing -- I'm helping the Time Trippers, you asshole."
This was news to the Time Trippers. "Hold on a second!" Marty said, loosing an arrow into a female's head. "You're on our side now?!"
"That bastard let his army kill my sister!" Dennis roared, pointing at Biff. "I'm not going to let him get away with killing everyone else!" With a scream of rage, he flung himself at Biff, claws and fangs ready to rend him to pieces. A wave of soulless vampires quickly descended upon him. Seeing an opportunity, Louis, Doc, and Mystie let loose with their stake guns. Wood thudded into the bodies.
One stake managed to catch Dennis through the heart. He didn't care. At least he had helped the Time Trippers to triumph. Now all that remained was to go back to Abigail.
After seeing one of their own desert Biff, and those who were loyal getting either roasted or staked, it was understandable that some of the soulless were starting to wonder why they were staying. A few took to the skies, valuing their lives a lot more than Biff. Others tried to slip quietly away. Biff, seeing victory slipping away from him, desperately tried to rally his troops. "Come on! We can still pull out a win! Most of those guys are humans! FOOD! Grab the stakes! ARE YOU IDIOTS OR WHAT?!"
"Well, they're being ledby an idiot," Gerry said smugly, throwing a tree branch and nailing a vampire in the nads. "What do you expect?"
Biff's eyes looked like coals in his face from his rage. "I'll kill you all myself!" he roared, rushing at Mystie. He tore her latest stake from her hands before she could react and raised it high.
"NO!" Doc tackled Biff before he could deliver the blow. They wrestled violently in the midst of the vampires, both determined beyond all reason to kill the other. Doc's group quickly forced the soulless away from the match, while Marty and Mysteria ran forward to help him.
They were not needed. Doc snatched up a fallen stake. "And to think," he hissed mockingly, "that all this could have been avoided if you hadn't been paranoid."
"What the hell are you talking about, butt-head?" Biff said, clawing at Doc's throat.
"I NEVER READ YOUR DAMN DIARY! You could have had it all, and I wouldn't have known until it was too late. You're such a fool." He raised his stake.
"Oh yeah? You're still mine, Brown." Biff thrust the stake upward with all his strength, straight into Doc's rib cage. Doc gave a short gasp of pain. Then his eyes went glassy. Biff chuckled.
Then Doc fell forward -- his hands still gripping his stake for the paralyzing blow. Biff's chuckle died as the stake sped toward his heart. Oh, shit, was his final thought.