David waited, as he had waited every night, as close as he dared get to the underground city. Tonight though, at last, he heard the faint sound of footsteps in the distance not long after sundown. A lot of footsteps. He ran ahead to meet them, and soon saw the group of humans moving through the night, Megan at their head.

He grinned in relief and ran to them. "Megan!"

"Oh David!" He caught her up in a fierce, if careful, hug, and swung her around.

"Thank God you're all right," said David. "It worked then! Jeff!" He greeted his friend warmly. "Alek and Mack were okay?"

"Yeah. They said they should be able to slip away in the confusion when the vampires reach the road train."

"Wonderful." He looked at the other humans then. And realized that everything was not wonderful. They were tired. Some of them were stumbling. They had walked all day without food or water, after months of being confined in tiny rooms. They were near the end of their strength, and it showed. He looked at them in dismay.

One of them, a tall, gray-haired woman, stepped forward. "I'm sorry we can't go any faster. Megan says you've fixed the lights on the road train. But I don't know how quickly we can make it. We're not in very good condition, I'm afraid."

David nodded. "You do what you can. We're only a couple of miles off."

He stayed with the group, fretting, as they moved slowly across the hills and gullies. He helped them along as much as he could, lifting the weaker members up out of the gullies, carrying the worst off of them in turn to let them rest, if only for a minute, but there wasn't much just one vampire could do.

And then he sensed the first of them; some vampire who had run a little faster than his fellows, no doubt. "They're coming," he said to Megan.

"We're not going to make it," she said, "are we?"

David looked at her. He looked at the staggering humans. Then he looked back to the unseen spot where the sense of vampire presence was growing slowly stronger as more of them came into range of his senses. Then he nodded. "Yes, you are. You're almost there. I just have to slow them down a little, and give you time."

Megan's eyes went wide. "No! You can't face down fifty vampires alone!"

David shook his head. "I can't beat them, but I can delay them, give you all time to get to the train. We're close! It won't take long."

"But... they'll kill you," she nearly whispered. He looked at her. He wanted, more than anything, to just run off with her to safety and leave the others behind. But he couldn't.

"This is bigger than us," he said softly.

Tears started streaming down her face. David hugged her, and gave her one last kiss, then stepped back. "I promise I will do my best to survive this," he said. "I may be able to slow them down a bit and still get away. I have a lot of tricks, after all this time. I promise. And you know I keep my promises."

"I know," she said. And then he was gone into the darkness.

Megan turned and caught up with the others. She was tired too, but she'd been in better shape to start with. The road train's captain paused a moment and gave her a look. "I heard what you two said. He's going back there alone?"

Megan glanced behind her, into the dark. "Yes," she said softly, tears still gathering in her eyes. "He's the Hunter. He can't do anything else."