Chapter 8

We arrived in Miami just as the sun dipped below the horizon. We rode in silence after the incident at the checkpoint. Jack took over the driving responsibilities from Holly. Since the radio was broken, he hummed show tunes to himself. It was driving me insane.

Although Holly periodically sighed and flipped her hair in irritation, neither of us stop him. Silence wouldn't have made things any better. There was traffic heading out of the city, toward the interstate and the airport. There were several flashing signs telling us to head away from the shoreline. A haphazard evacuation route was set up. A sign made of cardboard duct-taped to street lights with the words "God has forsaken us," spray-painted on it came into view. Driving down the block, I saw a man hanging from his mansion's balcony, a noose made of bedsheets around his neck.

"Let's stick to the highways," Holly muttered.

"The police might force us to turn back," Jack replied.

"Let them try," Holly said. She was insistent. We were not evacuating tonight. We continued to Miami.

Jack didn't fight. He continued to hum show tunes, a cheerful one this time, from Mamma Mia. Holly and I sighed in unison. But that only encouraged him to hum louder. If anything, it was soothing to have something to direct my irritation toward. My mind kept replaying the cracking of the vampire's ribs as I drove my knife into its chest. I couldn't stop thinking about the snarl on the creature's face, those sparkling teeth, and that curled tongue.

Then when my mind finally left the vampire, it would turn to Holly. The sight of her standing over the body with the shovel in her hands. In my memory, I saw her brown hair falling over her shoulders, her chest heaving under her fuzzy sweater.

Who thought she had it in her?

All this time, I thought she was some Queen-bee bimbo who was more concerned about her straight perm and her perfectly manicured nails to do any dirty work.

Also, where the hell was Jack all that time? Was he cowering in the car? It made me want to strangle him from the backseat. Just goes to show you, if you wait for a man to come to save you at the end of the world, you'll be vampire chow.

The future was most definitely female — that was, if we had a future left.

Miami was under more than just military lockdown. The police force and national guard had barricaded off South Beach. There were heavy-duty checkpoints going in and out of the city.

Holly reassured us that her boyfriend Andrew would offer us a place to crash for the night. He had a house that was about four blocks off Ocean Drive. Just like our phones, hers couldn't get a signal. Even so, Holly reassured us if we continued to drive to the coast, it was going to be safe there for the night.

Ever since the Blight Storm took a deadly turn, measures were taken to protect Miami in every direction. There was a military barricade safeguard the city from all sides. As for the beach, there were tents set up all along the water to prevent any unwanted guests from washing up. Megawatt beams were set up all around the city to ensure a safe evacuation at night. Although Jack assured me that not all vampires feared the light, I supposed the military was betting on the fact that at least some of them were.

"See those circus tents?" Jack asked, pointing at the white tips in the distance as we approached along the highway. "The Levarsi is here. They're an international society to protect humanity from the vampires."

"So, they're going to keep us safe?" Holly snorted. The night felt unnaturally cold for autumn. She had pulled her sweater sleeves over her hands to stay warm. Nervously, she picked bits of piling wool from her sweater and left it in balls around the car seat. My dad wouldn't like that if he were alive. He was a clean freak when it came to his car.

"Probably not," Jack said. "That's why they're evacuating people. Too bad, our cell phones have no reception, and Ailith's car radio is busted. Otherwise, we might find out what's going and who knows — maybe we would be heading to the evacuation center too."

"Hey, this is Ailith's car, and she gets to decide where we take it. We're still heading to South Beach, right, Ailith?" Holly asked me. When I didn't reply, she smirked at Jack. "See? She agrees with me."

"You did save my life," I muttered under my breath. I wondered how Holly quickly recovered from taking life, even if it was a vampire. Maybe being a popular girl made her especially resistant to empathizing with the less fortunate. Or maybe, she was better at hiding her emotions than the rest of us.

We came to a final checkpoint in 195, heading out of Buena Vista. The officer here was much friendlier than the one we had encountered outside of Windflower Springs. He even tipped his hat at us and smiled. I supposed this was because the vampires haven't infiltrated these parts yet.

"Where are y'all heading to this late at night?" The officer asked. "This bridge to South Beach is closed to anyone without official business over there."

"I work for Sylvirua," Jack said as he pulled up an old photo of an ID on his phone. He showed it to the police officer and then flashed his brightest, most innocent smile. "We're here to do some scouting of the medical facilities you guys are setting up. If the Blight Storm hits again, we need to be prepared."

"You are finally here. Thank God!" The police officer said as he immediately waved for his coworker to lower the barricade and let us through. "We were praying you guys would come."

Amazingly, the officer bought Jack's story. I marveled at how gullible the police officer was and how quickly he deferred as soon as he saw Jack's ID.

"Hey, anything you guys need, just let us at the MPD know," the officer said. "I'll tell you what, now that Charles Liang went and offed himself, people are getting antsy around here. They're saying if a big shot like that decided that this world is doomed, what hope is there for the rest of us, ya? Might as well swallow a bullet before those undead night-walkers get us."

"WHAT?" Jack asked, all the color draining from his face. "Ren Ming Liang is dead? THE CEO of Yagerin killed himself?"

"How many Charles Liangs do you know?" The officer said with an uncomfortable laugh. "I'll tell you what; I think this entire evacuation thing is a band-aid. The Blight hit six more major cities in the last 24 hours, and that's not counting all the suburban areas that are now completely blacked out. Do you think — unless these weird Lev-aaar-see guys in lab coats figure out what's causing the storms — come tomorrow, will any city in the United States will be safe?"

"Six more cities?" Holly asked, her hands going to her mouth in shock. Okay, killing a vampire wasn't enough to scare Holly. This did it.

I let the truth sink in. There was nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide. This wasn't just Windflower Springs that had been affected. It was everywhere.

No wonder all communication had been interrupted. We were now utterly and entirely alone. I suddenly understood why these police officers were worshipping the ground that Jack — a supposed Sylvirua employee — was walking on. That company was their last hope now that Charles Liang had abandoned us. Sylvirua was Miami, no the world's, last chance at survival.

And they hadn't come. We were the only members of Sylvirua who had shown up. And we were imposters. It seemed wrong to give them false hope.

Then again, what was right and wrong when the world was ending?

"I thought you knew," the police officer said as his brow furrowed. "I thought that's why you were here — to take over now that Yagerin has withdrawn their people entirely. Those orientals, can't trust them when you need them — no offense girls. You know I mean those corporate types, not you pretty ladies. Mark my words, I have nothing against anyone working for Sylvirua. You guys are bringing those Lumin pills, right?"

"We'll see what we can do," Jack said, avoiding eye contact. As he started up the car again, he paused and rolled down the window. "Officer, one last question."

"Yes?" The police officer asked.

"Was Manna City one of the cities that...that fell?"

"No," the officer replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Nothing, no reason," Jack said and drove on, away from the lights into the darkness of the bridge.

We rode in complete, deafening silence over the four-mile bridge. Those were the longest five minutes of my life. Across the bay, I saw all the megawatt lights shining bright against the night sky marking humanity's last stand.

"We're all going to die, you know," Jack whispered, finally.

"You know that for sure?" Holly asked, dryly.

"Yeah," Jack said. "Yeah. From this point on, that's a sure thing."