23 Hours: A Vengeful Vampire Tale

15.

What’s happening?” Caxton asked, as the main door of the SHU inched open. She could hear the half-deads on the other side beating on it and laughing. At any moment it would be wide enough for them to squeeze through. She had no doubt there were a lot of them, and they would all be armed.

Harelip ran back inside the guard post and slammed the red button with her palm again. The door didn’t stop in its tracks. She hit it again, still with no result. Caxton could see her cursing inside the guard post. She came running back out with her baton drawn.

“They’ll have knives,” Caxton said, staring at the CO’s truncheon. “They’ll outnumber us. We have to get the door closed again—what’s going on?”

Harelip scowled. “Every door in the facility can be opened or closed remotely. In case of a riot a unit or dorm can be locked down from central command. Somebody—one of those things—must have gotten to the control board and sent down the emergency evacuation signal. That opens all the doors in this wing.”

“You can’t override the signal from here?” Caxton asked.

“If prisoners took control of the SHU, central would still be able to lock down the unit, or pop it open if they needed to. So no, I can’t override it from here.”

Caxton stared at the slowly opening door as she thought about it. “Before—when the half-dead came in here—they unlocked all the cell doors remotely.”

Harelip nodded. “That’s right. And locked me inside the post. That’s why I couldn’t save the prisoners he killed.”

“But—but you got out, somehow,” Caxton said.

Harelip nodded again. “I yanked the wire that links that door control to central, then I hit my control again and, lucky me, it worked.” She stared at Caxton as if she was just piecing it together. “I could pull the wire for the main door control, too. Cut off the link to central, and then close the door from here.”

“It’s worth trying,” Caxton said, her heart racing.

“It’ll take a minute. Those cables are all run through a piece of PVC pipe under the control board. I’ll have to break it open to get to them. By the time I’m done the door will be open.”

“I can fight off the half-deads while you’re doing that. If you give me a weapon,” Caxton said.

Harelip glared at her. “You’re kidding.”

“No! Look, we have to do something, or they’re going to send every one of those things they have down here. Haven’t you figured it out yet? They’re coming for me. We’re wasting time—-just give me a gun!”

“Wait,” Harelip said, as if the door wasn’t rumbling open while they spoke. Already a half-dead had shoved one foot and part of its hip through the door. It was getting caught on its stab-proof vest, but at any second it would come lurching through, into the SHU where Caxton waited all but defenseless. “You’re saying that if I give you to them, they’ll leave the rest of us alone?”

Caxton’s heart skipped a beat.

“You’re a prison guard,” she said, finally.

“Yeah,” Harelip replied.

“That means you’re supposed to guard people. Not let them come to harm.”

“Uh-huh,” Harelip said.

Caxton shook her head. There was no time for this. “You fight them off—I’ll yank the cable,” she said, and ran toward the guard post.

At least this time Harelip didn’t argue. She moved to the door and slammed her baton against the head of the half-dead coming through the door. An arm holding a knife scythed down toward her, and she jumped back.

Inside the post Caxton dove under the control board and saw the PVC pipe Harelip had mentioned. It ran from the underside of the board down to the floor. It rattled slightly when she pulled at it, but didn’t come free. She could try to kick it free, but without any shoes on she’d probably just break her foot. She needed something to pry it loose with.

She spared a tenth of a second to glance over at the door. It was open nearly a foot wide now, more than enough for a half-dead to slip through. Harelip swung her baton and danced around knives, desperately trying to hold them back. Caxton needed to get the door closed immediately.

The chair that sat inside the guard post was made of wood. She picked it up and bashed it against the Lexan wall of the post and it shattered. Grabbing one chair leg, she ducked under the control board again and got the leg behind the pipe. With enough leverage, and the right angle—

The pipe snapped in half. A dozen thick cables in white plastic insulation were revealed inside. They were all the same, as far as she could tell. There was no way to know which one to yank. If she pulled the wrong one, she might cut power to the guard post, and then she would never get the door closed.

There was no other option. By the door Harelip was striking faster and faster, but she already had a bad cut on one ear and the side of her stab-proof vest was sliced open. It could protect her from a direct thrust, but slicing blows would eventually take it to pieces and then she’d have no protection at all. Caxton grabbed a cable at random and pulled. It came loose easily enough, but she couldn’t tell what effect it might have had. With one palm she slammed the red emergency lockdown button on the console.

Nothing happened.

“Okay,” Caxton breathed, and pulled another cable, then hit the button again.

Nothing.

“Come on!” she squealed, and pulled three of them at once. Then she slammed the button.

The buzzer sounded, and the door stopped opening. Then, slowly, far too slowly, it started to close again.

Caxton ran over to the door and nearly got brained by Harelip’s whirling baton. A half-dead was reaching in, trying to grab Harelip by the strap of her vest. Caxton grabbed the dead bastard’s arm and pulled it hard in the wrong direction. It snapped. The half-dead screamed.

Another one tried to get its foot inside the door, a big foot in a thick, steel-toed boot. Caxton grabbed the leg behind the ankle and pulled, hard, knocking the half-dead off its balance.

Harelip brought the end of her baton down hard on a half-dead’s head. The skull split open like a rotten melon. And then—

—the half-deads pulled back, away from the door. They had seen what happened when it closed before, and one of them had lost an arm. They were smart enough not to let any of their number get crushed this time.

When the door was finally, fully closed, Caxton leaned up hard against it and just tried to breathe for a while. She closed her eyes and didn’t think about anything. In a second she was going to have to deal with all of this. She was going to have to think about why vampires were attacking the prison, and what she was going to do about it. But for a second, at least, she could just lean there and be safe.

That was when she felt Harelip’s stun gun touch the small of her back.