Parasite ; Sleeper Cells ; Kingdoms of the Dead

by Ian Woodhead

  It was the size of their wolf-like canines that made Cade’s blood run cold. He tried not to imagine the terrible agony of feeling those dagger teeth slicing into his flesh and ripping into him as if he was just a piece of tender steak on somebody’s plate. Despite all his earlier denials, there was no doubt that these things were vampires. There was just no doubt left inside him anymore. Cade thought back to that terrible vision that he’d experienced inside that cavern and now allowed the images to finally sink in.

  Cade watched the three vampires turn their backs on him, still arguing. All three carried the same emblem, branded into their naked backs. The same mark stamped into that little girl’s arm and the same one on those invading vampires that had torn that man apart. Cade pushed the knife back into his belt and rolled up his sleeve, looking at his own mark.

  “I belong to their enemy,” he murmured. “I’m just a fucking branded farm animal.”

  “This is a bad dream and I can’t wake from it!” Katy peered over the top of the wheelie bin. “Oh my God, they are a bunch of blood-drinking fucking vampires.” She glared down at Cade. “Please tell me you saw their teeth?” The girl rubbed her eyes. “This really is too much to take in.”

  He nodded. “Would you kick me if I said, I told you so?”

  Instead of lashing out, her face just collapsed. “What are we going to do now?”

  He pulled the girl into his embrace. He believed that he could smell her fear he held her hot body tight against his, feeling her shivers against his chest. He just hoped that some part of the old scornful and strong-minded Katy was still inside her somewhere.

  This new and vulnerable Katy had been in this dangerous condition ever since they had managed to flee from the girl’s own garden just minutes before entering this alleyway.

  Their cat and mouse game that they had played with the pursuing creatures had almost ended with this capture. Cade didn’t doubt that they’d both be dead if it hadn’t been for Cade’s strange, new ability to sense when any of them were close by.

  After fleeing across half the town with those silent creatures close on their trail, Katy had just stopped dead, right in the middle of the road and begged Cade to take her home, insisting that it was only a few streets from where they were. He’d taken her hand then pulled her out of the street, gazing nervously behind them. They hadn’t spotted their pursuers for some time now and just hoped that maybe they’d given them the slip.

  Cade had allowed the girl to lead him along the pavements, keeping close to the hedges, and not allowing his attention to wander. Katy looked ready to collapse and he knew that he wasn’t that far behind. Both physical and mental exhaustion wanted to claim him. Their unknown trackers had run them into the ground.

  He watched her pushed open a gate and Cade had to find the energy to chase after her and stop the girl from running up the path. Once again, his senses had gone into overdrive as soon as they reached the house. Cade watched multiple shadows converge around a parked car in the driveway of a neighbour’s house.

  They had been lucky to escape with their lives on that occasion.

  “Katy, listen to me. I still think that we shouldn’t deviate from my original idea,” he replied. “We ought to go back to my house. My mum has got some serious explaining to do.” Cade closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying not to think of what he’d do if she couldn’t explain why a bunch of vampires were now running around town.

  “I don’t understand why they are chasing us, Cade.” She grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “Are you listening to me?”

  He snapped open his eyes and pulled her hands away. “Of course I’m listening to you. While we’re on that subject, there’s something else that’s been troubling me. “Why haven’t they caught us by now?”

  Her shakes came back with vengeance and Katy just wrapped her arms around his body. “Please don’t say things like that.”

  Cade pushed that thought out of his mind, just hoping that it was just the fact that they really had been very lucky and not that these things were just playing with them. “I bet you any amount of money that my mum has one of these birthmarks somewhere on her body as well.”

  “You don’t know?”

  He shook his head. “No, I haven’t a clue. I mean I’ve seen most of my mum’s body, but not all of it.” Cade chuckled. “Bloody hell, just how pervy did that sound? Look, we’ll find out soon, we’re not that far from home.”

  He rolled down his sleeve and looked over at the entrance. “I wish they could have stayed a few moments longer,” he said, watching the last of them leave the alley. “Don’t look at me like that, we might have found out what they were doing.”

  “It’s fucking obvious, they hunting us down and killing everybody. Shit, this is dumb, why aren’t we going to the police?”

  He sighed then slowly stood up. “If you recall, sweetheart, that was your idea?” Cade walked over to the pile of dust and bent down to examine it. Going through the snatches of conversation that he’d managed to overhear, those things were feeding from the locals; that bit he’d already worked out. Cade guessed that after being stuck down a well for God knows how many years they were bound to be a bit hungry.

  “We should go.”

  “You still want to go to the police?”

  Katy shook her head, “No, you’re right about what you said earlier, they wouldn’t believe anything we told them.” She stood behind him. “Do you think my mum and dad will be alright?”

  Cade stood up. “Sure they will, you already told me that they’re in bed asleep, I don’t think those monsters are breaking into people’s houses, they’re just picking off people in the streets.”

  “I still think we still need to warn somebody,” she said.” Katy dug out her phone and looked around. “Oh Christ, I still can’t wrap my head over the fact that they are vampires.”

  “Nobody will believe it, Katy. Just remember that.” He watched her features change from hope to disappointment. She thrust her phone into her back pocket and sighed. “I take it there’s still no answer?”

  The girl didn’t reply. She just looked back at the mess on the floor before marching away from Cade. “Are you coming or what?” she asked. “I thought we were going to your mums?”

  It pleased Cade to see some of her fire return; he suspected that they were both going to need the resilience to help get them through the rest of this night. He caught up to her, trying to think back to anything in his past that might have given him some clue to how he could be linked to these terrifying events. Perhaps he was just reading too much into this and his vision had nothing to do was some kind of racial vision handed down through the generations.

  He felt his birthmark itch again. Cade grabbed the girl and threw her to the floor. He covered her with his body and hastily threw a few sheets of crumpled newspaper over his head. Through the gaps in the sheets Cade watched the group of vampires run past the opening. They were close enough for him the smell them. All four of the things stunk of the grave.

  Cade counted to five until he climbed off her body; they were in too much of a rush to have sensed them. Even so, just how many chances did they have left before one of those things did catch them? He gently picked Katy up, then stooped back down and scooped her phone from the ground. “It must have fallen out of your pocket” he said, smiling.

  Katy flung her arms around his neck. “Oh my God, they almost caught us! Please tell me we’re safe now?”

  He pulled the girl back and shrugged. “Sweetheart, you know that can’t answer that.” Cade took her hand. “Come on, we’re safe now, at least for the moment. It’s not far from here.” His birthmark had warned him of their presence. As far as he was concerned, that just sealed the deal; his mother had some serious explaining to do.

  Cade saw no sign of any of those things when he pulled Katy out of the alleyway and onto the main high street. They ran over the empty road, keeping his eyes open for any sign of them returning. He stopped a tall wooden gate
and reached his hand over the top, trying to find the bolt. It had been over a decade since he had used this route to get back home. When he was nine years old, it seemed perfectly acceptable for him to cut through other people’s gardens in order to get back to his house. Then, though, he would have made short work of scaling a six-foot fence. He sighed when his probing fingers caught hold of the bolt. After a moment of cursing he managed to pull it back. Cade slowly pushed open the gate. He looked inside before leading Katy into the garden. He closed the gate and slammed the bolt home.

  “Please tell me that your neighbour isn’t a dog owner,” whispered Katy.

  “No, don’t worry,” he hissed back. “The old guy who lives here has a…” Cade suddenly stopped talking, his mouth dried up.

  “Oh please, don’t tell me that it’s not those things again,” she moaned. “Cade, what’s wrong?”

  He shook his head, wishing she’d be quiet. He then peered through one the gaps in the gate. “I can hear a car,” he replied, trying to calm his racing heart. Everyone knew that there were only two types of cars that cruised through the deserted streets of Welbourgh at this stupid time. He just hoped to God that is wasn’t a taxi.

  Cade saw the blue lights on the roof and almost cried out with relief. “Oh, thank you, God,” he said, grinning like a loon. All their troubles would be over now. The authorities would sort these things out. Hell, he could now just step back and watch the police marksmen take them out with the minimum of ease. He didn’t care what powers these monsters had and how strong they were, those things were just flesh and bone. Hell, they’d been inert for a thousand years, they’d have no idea of the damage that modern weapons would have on their bodies.

  “What the bloody hell are you playing at?” hissed Katy, slapping Cade’s hand away from the latch on the gate.

  Cade couldn’t believe that she’d just done that. “Are you insane?” he growled. The police need to know about what’s out there. I bet they’ll have shotguns in their car. They’ll easily take them out.”

  The girl looked at him as if he had suddenly grown a new head. “Cade, what planet do you live on? This is Welbourgh. It isn’t New York!”

  The police car slowly rolled past their hiding place. Cade clearly saw the occupants, the driver looked asleep and his passenger was sipping from a thermos. The girl’s words whirled around his head, he had no idea where he got that idea from. Welbourgh wasn’t exactly the crime capital of the world. The closest these clowns had ever got to a major crime would be the same as Cade, watching it on television.

  Cade’s stomach gracefully did a pirouette when he saw a shadow on the other side of the street grow. Oh hell, those things hadn’t gone anywhere. The bastards must have been watching them all the time, peering out from their own hiding place, alert for any movement.

  “We are so dead,” he cried, watching the figures all leap over a low brick wall and silently run, in single file, across the street. Cade paused, seeing that they weren’t heading for their position. Their target was the police car. For some stupid reason, he hoped that their primitive brains wouldn’t understand what it was, that coming towards them would be some kind of metal animal. That idea slipped away when two of them leaped onto the car bonnet and peered through the windscreen.

  They knew exactly what they had found. To them, this was just a big can of cold meat. All they needed to do was to find a way inside.

  Cade prayed that they’d just slam their foot down and get the fuck out of here. Instead, just like he feared, the car screeched to a halt. As soon as the doors opened, the vampires leaned inside and dragged the men out of the vehicle.

  The girl pulled him away from the gate. “Come on!”

  Cade nodded, swallowing down the bile and feeling like a complete coward for not going over to help those poor men. He ran through the overgrown grass, heading towards the house. He still expected to hear the sound of at least one of those killers leap over the tall gate.

  The only sound that reached his ears was the wet noise of chewing as those monsters ate through their victim’s bodies. The poor bastards hadn’t even had time to scream out.

  Katy pushed past him and quickly glanced behind her. “You’re slowing down!” she gasped. “Hurry up, I don’t want to be next.” Katy vaulted over the front garden fence then turned around and pulled Cade over the fence. “I almost got us both killed,” she cried, collapsing into his arms. Oh fuck, those coppers are dead because of me! If those vampires hadn’t chased us, they would still be alive”

  “How did you work that out?” he said, trying to calm the girl by running his fingers through her hair. “You wanted to check on your parents. It’s okay, anyone would have done the same.”

  “No it isn’t. They’re not even there. I lied, Cade. They are both on holiday.”

  Cade wiped the tears from her face. “Wait, I don’t understand.

  “Shit, you really don’t get it, do you?” Katy pressed her lips against his. “It doesn’t matter. Look, can we just get to your house? I’ll feel better once we’re inside.”

  “Don’t you mean safer?”

  She shook her head. “I only feel safe with you, Cade.”

  He took her hand, kissed her back and pulled the girl over the road. “That’s my house, the third from the left. Can you see the white door?” Cade jerked to a halt when he saw his front door was wide open. “Oh no, please, not here as well!” He let go of her hand. “I need you to wait here, Katy. If I’m not back out in the next few minutes, just get the fuck out of here. Go lose yourself in a big crowd of people or something.”

  Katy grabbed him. “No way,” she hissed. “There’s no way I can leave you, Cade.”

  “Vampires don’t just kill. We both know that. They change people as well. If there is one in my house and it does alter me, I don’t want to come after you.” Cade shrugged out of her hold, pushed her away from him and ran towards the house. He jumped over the gate and raced along the path. Cade knew that he should have listened to his own plan and just ran home as soon as they were clear of the industrial complex.

  Cade reached the front door and looked back, grateful that the girl had actually listened to him and gone on her way. He knew that she’d be okay, that girl could look after herself. He had no doubts on that score.

  His arm wasn’t itching. He took that as a good sign. Perhaps he had been too over-cautious. It could be something so simple like his mum had just forgotten to close it. He pushed open the door a little wider and stepped into the kitchen. Nothing looked out of place, apart from two bottles of wine standing on the kitchen top, next to the kettle. Cade walked over and picked up each one, shaking the bottles and finding them both empty. He frowned. His mum had never been a heavy drinker, unless they had a visitor while Cade was out.

  If she had drunk both these bottles alone, no bloody wonder she had left the door unlocked and wide open. Dare he actually walk into the living room? The last thing Cade wanted to see was his pissed up mum, sprawled across the sofa, snoring her head off.

  Cade looked over at the open front door, and sighed, now wishing that Katy hadn’t taken his advice. He so needed her right now. “What is wrong with me?” he muttered, grabbing the door handle. “You don’t even know the girl. My emotions are up and down like a prossie’s knickers.”

  He yelped in surprise when a huge grey hand flew through the gap in the door, the long fingers wrapping around his wrist and dragging into the room. He blinked a dozen times, not believing what his eyes were showing him. The huge creature gripping him looked down and grinned. Cade’s bowels loosened when he saw the oversized canines pressing against the creature’s colourless, thin lips.

  “How fortuitous to meet you at last, my son.” The monster bent his back and pressed his nose hard against Cade’s forearm. “All that fine fluid, flowing through your young body. It sends me dizzy with anticipation at the thought of consuming you, Cade.”

  Cade’s attempts at getting this thing off him met with failure. The v
ampire’s vice-like grip didn’t budge. “Get the fuck off me,” Cade growled and jerked his head around the room. “Where’s my mum?”

  “You have so many demands,” tutted the vampire. “You are so strong, Cade, and although you are technically family, if you do not cease your obstinate and insolent behaviour, I will gut you here and now. Your agony will be exquisite and it will you take many hours to die.”

  He looked up into his vivid red eyes and felt all resistance flow from his body; he could not fight this monster. This was it, his existence was at an end. This thing was going to turn him into one of his kind.

  The vampire laughed, “No, my son. You have no future, except for provisioning. You were my waking meal and even though I am awake, I still intend to finish you off.” He pulled up Cade’s sleeve and slammed his fingernails deep into his tender flesh.

  Cade screamed out in agony, feeling the vampire’s chitin-like nails scrape against his bone. The vampire then slipped them out of Cade’s flesh and pushed his bloodied fingers into his mouth. “You are so sweet, my son. I shall regret being unable to consume all of you but, I need my army. I need to waken the others. You might be sweet but, you’re not very bright. It pained me to feel you so close to me for all those years.”

  He was almost ready to pass out, the vampire’s remaining words were lost to him as he came close to falling into oblivion. Through his limited vision, Cade felt the presence of another figure enter the room. Although the pain hadn’t let up and the promise of unconsciousness was just seconds away, some part of his brain told him that the figure must be his mother. The vampire had already changed her and she, along with the monster holding him, would help to drain him dry.

  He heard a deep bellow before feeling the grip on him loosen. Cade felt the top of his shirt tighten against his skin before something hard and heavy cracked against the back of his head.

  “Cade, we need to move!”

  Another bellow shot through his brain and Cade felt some of his wits return. He opened his eyes just a crack and saw the vampire on the other side of the living room. He screamed with rage before flinging himself against the living room window. The glass shattered, the vampire disappeared into the night, letting in cold air. He lifted his head and looked into the face of Katy.