‘Yes, he is gone.’
The girls are weeping but I will save my tears until we are all safe. Baran is with Leandra, out of pain and sleeping in peace. We have to move, ‘Garok, help me cover him over with a blanket and some forest brush, and we’ll have to move on to the well.’
My voice is as cold, and hard as death itself. I am going to build a wall so strong; it’s impenetrable around my heart, so that I won’t feel this pain and helplessness again. Orianna and Lupe are clinging to Baran, but they will have to let go. We have to let go to survive. I swear it, we will survive and one day I will give this anger free reign, and destroy every heartless, black-blooded, buck-teethed Vampire that ever crosses my path!!
Dear God, what was that? I saw something behind the trunk of that tree; eyes, blue eyes and white skin.
‘Did any of you see that?’
The boys did, they are crouched, poised ready to defend; we are all whispering now, ‘There it is again, and there, more than one.’
‘What are they?’
‘They are not Vampire, they look human.’
‘Could they be animal?’
‘No animal I have ever heard of, smooth white skin and I saw an arm, I think.’
‘But Garok, they are too small to be human. They are not attacking us; I have felt them watching us for a long time, since before the river.’
‘I know, I told you I saw one at the river.’
‘What do we do? We have to get to the well Garok. Anne is already way ahead of us, she’s alone and it’s not safe.’
‘We will carry on as planned and hope that watching is all that they want to do.’
‘We have no choice. Come everyone, stay close, it can’t be that far now.’
The girls can see the Watchers now, whatever they are, and they are trembling as they walk with us. Each step seems to steal from the light, while the tall trees shaking their branches; merge into the hum of the forest. It’s a pocket of shadows and secrets in here, with strange, vague rustlings and nibblings as the animals go about their life. The birds must treat it as hallowed ground because they perch on the tops of the trees, declaring they have no intention of delving further. There is a pungent, but intoxicating smell of damp soil, real wood and wet leaves. I would drink this experience in if the situation wasn’t so critical. I can feel the Watcher’s eyes burning into my body as we walk, but somehow I sense there is curiosity more than evil intent. I wonder if Garok and the others can sense it too.
‘The well, we are here!’
Anne is lying on the floor next to it and she is moaning with pain. Her face is a mass of blisters and raw peeling skin. I have never seen anything like it!
‘Help me! My allergy.’ There is what sounds like a herd of animals, retreating through the forest, which startles us all. ‘What that?’
Orianna and Lupe are clinging to one another in panic, and the boys have instinctively poised to defend or attack again. This chaos just intensifies the urgency of getting down that well. ‘Garok, have a look down it and see if there’s a rope or something, hurry!’ I am pouring water all over Anne’s burns as I simultaneously check out the well. It is a large circle of grey, moss covered stones, cemented together. I’d say it was a couple of meters in width, so we would be able to fit into it easily. There is a steel rectangle, supporting a mobile steel cylinder which is directly over the well, and there is the thickest rope I have ever seen entwined around it. A large metal handle on one side must be to move the cylinder and extend the rope down into the well. I don’t know physics, but I recognise that it is a pulley. We have a way to get down and I think Anne should be first. I only hope it is not deeper than the length of the rope.
Garok and Sebastian appear to have adopted the same sense of urgency, and are already tying the rope around Anne’s waist and lifting her into the well. She is almost unconscious, but she needs to stay alert, at least till we get her down there. God, should we have sent down one of the lads first to check it out? I don’t know, there is no time, she is literally burning up. The inside of the well is damp with moss and wet gunge, but I can see the bottom. There is no running water, and it looks like only five or six meters deep, I think. The boys have put the mini-torch in the pocket of her dress, and switched it on, so that we can see the state of the well further down. The handle is a bit stiff, but useable, and I think we just might be able to lower us all down safely. How the hell are we getting the last one down friend? That’s only just occurred to me. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, or should I say, take a leap of faith down a rickety old well. I don’t know why my brain won’t shut up occasionally Amica.
Anne is on the bottom, and has loosened the rope and sent it back up. She is lying flat now, and I think she has fainted. ‘Lupe, it’s you next, you hold tight and be careful.’ If she wasn’t poorly, Lupe wouldn’t even need the rope; she’d scale down the side of that well, no problem! Look at her with that filthy, beautiful face; this illness or that well won’t get Lupe! Garok’s going purple turning that rusty handle, I better give him a lift. Orianna next, then Sebastian, Garok and I will have to figure the last two descents out. Phew! They are all on semi-solid ground below and it’s figuring out time for Garok and I.
‘Aecia, I think we can tie the rope around us both at once, go back to back, each scaling down either side. What do you think?’
You don’t want to know what I think! I don’t know if I hate you, like you, love or lust you Garok!
‘There’s no other choice is there, we’ll have to try.’
OMG! I can see something crawling under the leaves behind Garok, it’s not one of the Watchers, and it looks black skinned.
‘AAAhhhhhh!’
It’s just leapt out on to the bottom of his leg; it’s got fangs, ‘GAROK!’
The thing has claws and flaming red eyes; it won’t let go, I’m wrapped in this rope with Garok and I’m kicking it so hard, why won’t it let go? What is it?
‘Its teeth are sinking in! It has me! Kick it Aecia, kick harder!’
It’s hard to move, but if I can just reach that rock, I’ll knock it out! I’ve got it,
‘I’m sorry Garok, I’ll have to whack it while it’s attached; it’s going to hurt your leg.’
‘Do it! Do it!’
Every last ounce of my strength has just gone into that blow, but the thing is not dead, it’s only unconscious. I’ll have to pull the fangs from Garok’s leg. My God, there are more, moving closer, we have to get down the well.
‘I don’t know if you can hear us, but lay out the bags of clothes for us to land on, we’re jumping!’
I hope to God, the rope ends just before we land, and I can hang on, to break the pressure of the fall and stop us landing at speed, on the ground.
‘Garok, don’t faint, get up on the well, I can’t carry you, come on!’
Oh my god! We’re falling; I can see the others….
I must have passed out, where am I? It’s dark and it smells of, what is that? Blood, I smell blood, dried blood. Garok, his leg, where is he?
‘Garok, Orianna.’
‘It’s ok, we are safe so don’t worry.’
That is Anne’s voice but I can’t see her. I can’t see anything, it is pitch black.
‘Are we in the well? I don’t remember climbing in, just falling.’
I am sitting up now, as I remember those creatures, those black, slimy atrocities, and one of them had Garok! He has not spoken yet either, he’s not dead, he can’t be! I’m too mad at him, for him to die!
‘Garok?’
‘Is sleeping, his leg has stopped bleeding now and I have washed it, and ripped some rags to bandage it.’
My whole body has just exhaled with relief, and yet again, I am confused about my reactions to Garok.
‘Anne, you sound so much better, your allergy, those blisters?’
‘Are healing nicely, I am fine.’
‘How long have we been down here?’
‘I’d say about two hou
rs.’
‘WHAT! I’ve been out of it for that length of time?’
‘We had a rough day, and you and Garok had the worst of it. You banged your head when you landed.’
As I raise my hand to the throbbing pulse on my forehead, I can feel an egg shaped bump.
‘I reckon I got off lightly Anne, you didn’t see the devil that was biting chunks out of Garok.’
‘I did, we all did! There were three or more, trying to climb down the side of the well after you, but they changed their minds. Sebastian lit some matches, and we shone the torch directly into their eyes. They don’t like fire, or light, apparently.’
‘Good to know, so where are we now?’
‘We dragged you through the tunnels as far as we could, and I couldn’t tell you exactly where we are. We’re just a good way from the well, underground, and resting in a man-made tunnel. You were right about this place Aecia, this was made by Humans. I am sorry I doubted you.’
My heart is beginning to warm to Anne again Amica, but I can see you sitting there, sticking your tongue out and pulling faces at her. Now you’re sticking your fingers up her nose, and I’m going to laugh if you don’t stop! It’s safe to assume that you’re not buying this speech then?
‘Did you say everyone was asleep Anne? It’s awful quiet down here, much too dark for my liking.’
‘I know, bit creepy, but it’s just like you said, at least we are safe here. I think we should both get some sleep before anything else happens, don’t you?’
‘Yeah, I could sleep for a week.’
As I rest my head against the cool steel of the cylinder tunnel, I can feel one of my friends shifting around, and resting there weary arm on my leg. The heat from their body comforts me, and reminds me that I am not alone anymore in this, or any other event that comes my way. That means such a lot to me, and probably to them too, because we are all professional loners. I will never take them for granted Amica, as I will never take you for granted.
I’m so tired, and my eyes feel like the dumbbells in a gym, so I’ll just doze for a while, and then we can crawl deeper into the tunnels.
What woke me up? Didn’t I just close my eyes two seconds ago? It must have been that weird snuffling and moaning sound beside me. Whoever it is, sounds like a rat, munching, squeaking and scuttling around. What body parts must you be using to produce a sound like that Amica? Who is leaning on me, for they must be the culprit? It’s Garok, and he’s lying face down, so that explains the noise, he must be restricting his breathing. Where’s that mini-torch so I can get a good look at him?
Oh his leg looks hideous! Two gaping round holes, oozing green and red fluid and it is swollen to twice its size. The cretin that bit him must be carrying all kind of diseases for it to get infected like that. He’s absolutely freezing too, and it’s quite warm in here, what’s that all about? If I can just turn him around to free his airways; Oh No? Look at his face Amica, it is swollen too, and his wondrous eyes look dark, and without life. What did that, spawn of the devil, do to him? If only my Uncle were here, he would know what to do; he might even know what those god-forsaken critters are.
I think I’m going to wake the others up; we need to go deeper, until we get to the other tunnels with room enough to move. I don’t think Garok will make it if we don’t go now, and the rest of them aren’t in the best of health either.
‘Orianna, Anne, wake up and get the others up will you!’
Wow, my voice really echoes in here, I better take it down to a whisper, ‘Come on Sebastian, Lupe!’
I feel sorry for them; they have had little food, no rest, and no peace of mind, since the moment they were freed from the Clone farm. Will we ever be able to stop running, and hiding from so many enemies? We have to believe that someday we will, or there is just no point to any of this.
‘Garok, please try and move, even if it’s just a crawl, open your eyes, and come on!’
His eyes are still half closed, but at least he is moving with the rest of us. I think he is delirious, he does not really comprehend what’s going on, and he’s muttering some gibberish as he is crawling. Oh let’s just get to the other end of this spaghetti of tunnels, and we can think straight enough to decide our next move.
These tunnels must have taken an age to complete. There are so many of them, each one branching out to another pair in either direction; then each tunnel in that pair doing the same. It’s like a round, steel, underground maze, and it’s telling me that the Humans, (at least some of them), had an inkling of what the future might hold for them, even before The Great War with the Vampires. They were preparing to hide and survive, similar to those Humans who prepared underground bunkers, stockpiles of food and water and so on, in preparation for a nuclear war. It may have saved them for a while, but that was just prolonging the inevitable. Disembodied voice, didn’t actually tell me where this maze eventually leads to, and it must lead to somewhere, because Humans couldn’t possibly live in just the tunnels. They would have to go about their lives, on their knees, and in single file!
‘We stop here?’
Orianna is asking to rest here for a while and I agree. We have changed direction multiple times, and we should be far enough away from the well to feel safe.
‘Is everyone agreed? I think we should rest, and get something to eat and drink.’
There are general murmurings of agreement from everyone, along with something indecipherable from Garok. At least we can be grateful that we have water and some bread with us. We won’t starve for another few hours. We are literally living, minute to minute, with so much uncertainty in our futures.
Garok’s eyes are still closed, even as he is drinking some water; he must be utterly exhausted, and in horrendous pain with that leg. It’s very dark in here I know, but he doesn’t even look like Garok, so swollen is his face. Maybe if he sleeps some more, his body might gain enough strength to be able to fight the poison. I think we’ll all sleep for a while longer too, we’re all still exhausted.
Oh not again! Another noise has woken me up! If somebody’s snoring, I’m going to stuff a rag up their nose, I need some sleep! No, it’s not that, I can hear someone moving, crawling, there are five bulky shadows lying still next to me, so we’re all accounted for! My God! Have those cretins managed to follow us? Where’s the torch? They don’t like light do they? Do I sneakily wake the others, or do I shout and maybe scare it off? I’m opting for what I feel like doing,
‘UP, EVERYONE, WAKE UP, SHINE THE TORCH, THERE’S SOMETHING HERE!!’
Sebastian has grabbed the bow and arrows from the bag, thank goodness we brought them! Anne has the torch and she’s switching it on, I can’t believe what I’m seeing, Dear lord, what is it. It is slithering towards us, staring with bulbous white-blue eyes, and it is as black as coal from head, to, whatever is attached to the other end of it. There’s an opening in its face, but there are no lips, and its head is smooth and hairless. God it’s hideous, what does it want? The air is frozen as we all wait for its next move, but its stopped moving now, and is just staring at us, with eyes like the sky.
What the hell! Garok has just flung himself on top of it, and they are rolling around fighting and hissing.
‘GAROK, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!’
Everyone is shouting, and trying to get Garok away from it, but it’s too late, the thing has opened its mouth and bit into Garok’s shoulder. I can’t see if it has fangs or teeth, but they are ripping into Garok, and his body is sticky with blood.
‘Sebastian, fire the arrow anywhere on its body, hurry!’
Sebastian is frightened of getting Garok instead of the creature, but he has to try, it is eating his shoulder! What is happening? Garok, his face is changing, there is white foam in his mouth, and he is opening it wider, his teeth, they are not teeth, they are fangs!!! He has just sunk them into the monster’s neck, and there is brown blood spurting all over Garok’s face. No, not Garok, not him, he’s human, he has to be! I can’t bear it if he’s a Vampire!
Everyone has shrunk further back from the horrific scene, since they saw Garok’s fangs. They don’t want to help a Vampire, and I have to believe it, he is a Vampire now. My God, Anne has the weirdest look on her face, it is almost enjoyment, and I feel like I’m going to throw up. The stench of violence is all around me, and I must do something. I’m getting another arrow and I’ll ram it into the monster, but no, if Garok is has changed completely into Vampire, then he will attack us too, I don’t know what to do! There is a buzzing in my ears and my head is aching.
‘Aecia, listen to me, carry on in the tunnel and take the next left, now, with the others.’
It is disembodied voice; I should have known when I felt the buzzing in my head.
‘How are you doing this? How do you know what is happening in here?’
‘I read your mind; it is a Sanguis you are facing. Get as far from it as possible, move!’
‘But Garok!’
‘Go; go now, before it is too late!’
‘Anne, lead the others through the next tunnel on the left. I’m right behind you.’
I’m grabbing whatever water bottles I can see left, and I have the last of the arrows friend. I feel like I’m in one of my own nightmares. Is this really happening to us? My legs are following the others, but they are on automatic pilot.
‘Take the next left tunnel, again.’
‘Listen, mind-reader person, if you are so clever, why can’t you beam down here, and actually, physically, help us?’
‘This is the only way I can help you at the moment.’
‘Well, at least tell me where we will end up?’
‘You will end up in the last human refuge, before the War ended.’
‘An underground village?’
‘No, a habitation, it is not perfect, but it is the safest place for you for now. It is constructed from the same steel, as the tunnels that lead to it.’
‘How do we get in?’
‘The next tunnel you will take is to your right, and it is the last one. It will lead you up through the floor of the safe- house, and when you are in, you must block it immediately, with the steel lid. Turn it clockwise twice, then anti-clockwise once, and finally, clockwise four times, to lock it.’
Only Human Page 10