They muscled their way through the crowds of men in the corridors. Screams rang in the distance. Many of the gun decks were overrun or deep in blood. The vampires were working their way in from the hull. The engine room was lost, one man shouted. The engine room was the only safe place, another screamed.
They reached the airship's core where the great multichambered dirigible loomed in front them. They mounted a ladder that stretched up to the catwalk webs around the gas works. The general stopped and pointed out three motionless vampires clutching the sloped side of the dirigible. The creatures seemed overwhelmed by the noise and smell. One marine raised his rifle.
“No!” Anhalt hissed. “They haven't noticed us. Climb.”
The men climbed with their rifles hanging off their arms by the straps, watching the vampires and waiting for the telltale twitch when the things would streak to the attack. They had reached the halfway point of the long ascent when a squad of airmen came out onto the catwalk some fifty yards below. Tools hanging from their belts clanged against the iron railing. The vampires dropped from their perch, swooping toward the airmen.
“Take them!” Anhalt shouted.
The marines awkwardly brought their rifles to bear, with elbows locked around the ladder rungs, and shots cracked. Aim was near impossible. Several of the creatures were hit and tumbled in the air. They righted themselves and focused on the marines above them as the airmen ran for safety. One vampire rose through the air, while the other two scrambled up the ladder toward the soldiers.
One of the spidery things below leapt, taking shots into his chest. He slammed against the bottom marine, ripping him off the ladder and leaving him to scream as he fell. The vampire surged forward, clutching the next marine and catching a bayonet in the face. The creature hissed and grasped the rifle barrel. The marine pulled the trigger with the muzzle nearly buried in the thing's cheek, and the vampire's head exploded.
Anhalt saw a vampire facing him twenty yards above, but on the opposite side of the ladder. The private below yelled, “Behind us!” A quick glance back showed the third creature scrambling up toward the group.
The marine private pulled a long dagger from his belt. “Go! Get the sirdar away!” Without hesitation, he slid down the ladder into outstretched claws. The vampire wrapped him up, and the marine shouted as he jammed the dagger into the thing's back, then pushed off into the air, wrenching the vampire from the ladder. Both figures plunged to the bottom.
The final vampire slithered down. The sergeant moved to the reverse side of the ladder, fumbling a long jagged knife from a belt sheath, almost losing his footing. The creature surged at him and seized the soldier by the head.
Anhalt drew back and shoved his Fahrenheit saber between the rungs into the vampire's midsection. He twisted the blade and the thing screamed. The sergeant slipped his dagger across the vampire's throat and grunted with effort as he dug the knife deep. Blood poured from the gash, mixing with the soldier's own. He gritted his teeth for one final push, and the thing's head lolled loosely to the side. The creature released its hold on the ladder and Anhalt kicked it. It fluttered away like a macabre old balloon.
The sergeant started to waver, drifting backward. Anhalt quickly snatched the man's bloody wrist through the ladder.
“Sergeant!” he shouted.
The man blinked and grabbed iron. “Thank you, sir. Up you go.”
Both men climbed fifty feet, where they staggered onto a catwalk. As they made their way, Anhalt reloaded his revolver and handed it to the marine. The sound of the engines faded as they trudged forward; faint screams and gunshots still echoed.
Finally, they saw the base of the companionway to the bridge ahead. Then they heard hissing. Behind them, two vampires started loping up the corridor. One raced along the deck while the other lifted onto the bulkheads and clawed forward like a charging leopard.
“Run!” Anhalt yelled.
He and the sergeant pounded down the steel corridor, their footfalls loud but unable to drown out the sound of the closing creatures. When they reached the companionway, the sergeant dragged himself up the steps to pound on the hatch.
“Open up! They're almost on us!”
Anhalt saw a speaking tube and shouted into it, “Open the hatch! Now! This is General Anhalt!”
He heard the scraping of a latch and turned to see the grinning vampires sweeping toward them. Hands reached down from the hatch, grabbing the sergeant and bringing him in. Anhalt started up as snarling faces and claws came at him, following him gracefully up the rungs. He stabbed down with his saber and kicked. Sharp pain lashed along his leg. Hands snatched his shoulders, and he was being lifted past the edge of the hatchway. He was tossed to the deck of the bridge.