(The Push Chronicles (Book 2): Indefatigable Read Free

movie monster.
    This thing was far stronger than I was, but I still felt some relief when I pushed against its elbow with one hand.  My other hand moved to intercept his groping hand.  I didn't try to match its grip; I deflected the arm to one side, sending the corpse's fingertips burrowing into the bricks behind me.  My accelerated thoughts cycled through my options.  Any physical damage I did to the corpse, I assumed, would be temporary: the Push shell would simply force it back into position and carry on.  It felt no pain, no shock ... frankly, it had no conventional vulnerabilities.  At the same time, I could use whatever violence I needed to without fear of hurting a living person.  What I needed to remember was every popular myth about vampires.  The Whiteout stole its template for the universe not just from Eric Flynn's mind, but bits from every mind it touched.  However the myths say the methods are to kill a vampire, that is most likely what this thing was vulnerable to.
    I ruled out sunlight immediately as I brought my free hand back down with a hammer punch right on the corpse's shoulder.  As with the jaw, the power of my blow was enough to crush the entire shoulder socket, giving me a momentary gap of safety as the arm was pulled back into place by the regenerating vampiric form.  Using that opening, I released my grip on its pinning forearm and delivered a short, sharp blow to the ribcage.  My hand dug into the viscous mass of the monster's torso and I was infinitely grateful for my leather gloves and full-body uniform.  With the vampire's equilibrium disrupted by the two structural breaches, I was freed of enough pressure to bring my legs up to my chest and violently thrust outward, sending the vampire flying across the room into the steamer trunk.  The swollen wood burst from its bands and sent a torrent of earth spilling out to the ground.  The monster was already stirring, white flesh knitting together and corpse parts being shoved back into place.  I need real options and I needed them now.  My brain, thankfully, delivered as I slid down the wall, catching myself in a crouch.
    I pushed off from the crouch into a smooth pounce, crashing on top of the corpse while it was still off-balance.  Another spray of moist earth blasted up into the air as I tried to pin the creature with my knees.  I frantically dug through the mounds of earth and debris for something wooden, long, and pointy.  It didn't take long, a mere moment, to find something suitable.  It was time for a classic horror-movie-vampire-staking.  I raised the broken, jagged-edged plank up high and brought it down, letting my scientific knowledge guide my hand.
    If it had gone according to plan, my strike would have been true.  My aim was impeccable.  I had failed to properly account, though, for the plethora of supernatural abilities vampires were reputed to possess.  Just as the makeshift stake began to part the perfect outer flesh, the creature shrieked and exploded.  Not, unfortunately, into inert dust like so many TV show portrayals, but into a sickly cloud of fog.  I held my breath as the mist suddenly burst past me on an unnatural wind, ending with another slight pop as the air pressure shifted back and forth.  I threw myself from my kneeling position to spin onto my back, just in time to see a pair of massive fangs descend.  There was no room to maneuver in the wreckage of the trunk.  All I could do was throw up a forearm in defense.
    I was saved from the worst case scenario once more by my peculiar immunity to the Pushed.  Those knife-like teeth were immaterial to me.  Still, the inhuman strength behind the corpse's jaws mashed hard into my leather sleeve.  I could feel my forearm muscles get torn and mangled as my mind ticked off the damage and suppressed the pain.  My eyes locked with the double gaze of my attacker, who continued to try to gnaw through my sleeve, I blindly stabbed upward with the sharpened