Tale of the Dead Town

by Hideyuki Kikuchi

  “Only two if we’re lucky,” Dr. Tsurugi said, his expression greatly changed. “You just happened to find out about your daughter, but there may well be other victims who’ve been bitten without anyone noticing. They might not yet have turned into vampires. In some cases, their families may keep them hidden, too.”

  “Exactly,” D said with a nod.

  While humans feared the Nobility to their very marrow, the love they felt for their own flesh and blood sometimes prevailed over their terror when a member of their family became one of the undead. Many were the families who’d watch their child growing thinner and paler each night and think it better to hide them in some back room of the house rather than have them run out of the village. That was usually the case when a whole family became dark disciples of the vampires. Love thinks little of courting death. When the fangs of the very child they’d risked their life to defend coldly pressed against their carotid artery, was it a feeling of remorse that skimmed through the mother or father’s heart? Or was it satisfaction?

  “I suppose it would be best if we didn’t inform anyone that one vampire’s been destroyed?” said the mayor.

  Both D and Dr. Tsurugi nodded.

  “This may sound a bit odd,” the physician began, “but you’ll have to keep Laura from leaving the house. We want folks in town to believe this incident hasn’t been resolved—because, in fact, it hasn’t been. Mr. D and I can handle the search.”

  D donned an unusual expression. The man in the white lab coat seemed intent on running the show. The problem was, he really didn’t look like the pushy type. It was almost as if D’s presence brought it out in him.

  “Actually,” the mayor began, craning his neck uncomfortably, “that’s a job for the law enforcement bureau. I’ll have to let them know about this.”

  “As they haven’t been able to accomplish anything to date,” D replied, “I don’t imagine they’ll be of much more use in the future. Leave everything to me. And talk some sense into the good doctor, too.”

  “Understood. Dr. Tsurugi, I’d like you to remain silent regarding this incident, and keep out of the investigation. Those are my orders as mayor.”

  “But—” Dr. Tsurugi began indignantly before restraining himself. “Very well, sir. As disappointing as it may be, I’ll refrain from joining Mr. D in his work. And now, if you’ll excuse me.” Bidding them adieu in a loud voice, the young physician squared his sturdy shoulders and disappeared into the darkness outside.

  “Another one?” the mayor mumbled, sounding very weary.

  “Another one—and we have to wait until he claims another victim,” D muttered. “The doctor must’ve seen the vampire’s face. He didn’t say anything in particular about it, though.”

  “You mean as to whether or not it was someone from town?”

  Ignoring the question, D said, “When’s the last time you had a death or a missing person?”

  Squinting, the mayor replied, “Last death would be two years ago, missing person would go three or four months back. Exact cause isn’t known, but most likely they got drunk and fell off the town. I’ll make you a list of names and addresses.”

  D nodded.

  -

  II

  -

  The next morning, there was a rap at the door of D’s assigned lodgings that created quite a racket.

  “It’s open,” a low voice responded, but whoever knocked made no attempt to open to the door. “What is it?” the Hunter asked.

  “Um, it’s the mayor and Dr. Tsurugi. They want you to come right away. Someone’s sick. Come to the A Block of the industrial sector.” After these fear-filled words, there was the sound of furtive footsteps fading away.

  Rising from his simple bed of hay without a word, D made his necessary preparations. Of course, those preparations consisted simply of strapping his longsword to his back.

  -

  The sun was already high. People on the street watched in terror as D walked by, his stride smooth as the wind. The industrial sector was on the edge of town. It consisted of three colossal blocks of buildings in a row. Aside from the actual energy used to keep the town in flight, everything they needed for their day-to-day existence was produced in the industrial blocks. It was the town’s lifeline, so to speak.

  Without needing to see the A Block markings on the doors, D was guided there by the otherworldly atmosphere. A few people were standing at the entrance to a semi-cylindrical dome. The mayor and doctor were among them. And, of course, the sheriff, with the silver rocket-launcher tucked under his arm. Some men, perhaps deputies, were pushing back a wall of people to keep them from getting any closer. As D approached, the mass of humanity parted smoothly, making a path for him. Gazes brimming with fatigue, astonishment, and hatred greeted the Hunter.

  At the mayor’s feet lay a man. A white waterproof sheet shrouded him. Keeping his silence, D went down on one knee and lifted the sheet. Under it was a middle-aged man, around forty years old. Eyes thrown wide open and lips zipped tight, his features were a detailed testament to a moment so horrifying he couldn’t even scream.

  “What’s the story?” D asked quietly.

  “Like you need me to tell you,” the sheriff replied snidely. “There ain’t a damn drop of blood left in his body. One of your pals must’ve sucked him dry.”

  “That doesn’t seem to be what happened,” D said, turning to Dr. Tsurugi.

  The physician nodded. “Indeed, all the blood’s missing from this body. However, there are no signs of a bite.”

  “Check ’im good enough and you’ll find a bite, all right,” said the sheriff. “At any rate, we’ve got another victim now. If you keep relying on some clown we don’t know from a hole in the ground, we’re gonna have a few more on our hands, too. Mayor, I think it’s high time you let my office handle this. You leave it to us. Inside of seventy-two hours we’ll smoke that freak out and get rid of anyone who’s been bitten.”

  Mayor Ming’s face was warped with anguish.

  “Though the symptoms are the same,” D said, “this isn’t the work of the Nobility, or even of one of their victims. You won’t find a mark on him. My guess is . . . ”

  Dr. Tsurugi was already nodding in agreement. “This could very well be some new kind of illness.”

  “What?! Now I know you two bastards have gotta be in cahoots!” the sheriff bellowed.

  “I’d like another three days,” said D. “If I haven’t found your foe by then, I’ll leave town.”

  “You’ve gotta be out of your fucking—”

  “Good enough,” said the mayor, cutting off the sheriff. “For the next three days, the search for the vampire is entirely in the hands of Mr. D. Sheriff, you’re not to interfere with him in any way at all.”

  Though his whole face flushed vermilion, the sheriff held his tongue.

  “A wise course of action,” Dr. Tsurugi said, his back to the gigantic lawman.

  “You little bastard . . . ” the sheriff growled, latching onto the physician’s shoulder with his meaty fingers. And then something wrapped around the lawman’s wrist. The mayor’s arm.

  “Sheriff,” the mayor said to the face of naked ferocity that greeted him. Just one word. The vermilion hue of excitement faded from the sheriff’s face in a matter of seconds.

  “Okay. You’re the mayor. What you say, goes. But he only gets three days. And during that time, he ain’t gonna get a bit of help from us. He’ll have to do all the questioning and all the investigating all by his lonesome. And I’ll tell you one thing—this here town’s pretty damn big.” And then he left, with his men following close behind.

  “Well, then, about this body . . .” Dr. Tsurugi said, rubbing his eyelid. “Should we bring it to the morgue, or back to the hospital? Personally, I’d love a chance to dissect it. He didn’t have any family, correct?”

  The mayor nodded.

  “Then we’ll bring it back to the hospital for the time being. We can’t discount the possibility this is some sort of i
llness.”

  On orders from the mayor, two of the townsfolk were selected and, one at each end of a stretcher, they loaded the body onto the back of the hospital motorcycle parked nearby.

  “Well, then, I’ll be running on ahead.”

  The young physician departed, leaving only the growl of an engine in his wake. That left only D and the mayor. A forceful wind gusted around the two of them. Perhaps it was a gale that blew from the light into darkness. Or maybe it was something else.

  “What is it?” the mayor said succinctly. “You think it could be an illness?”

  D didn’t answer him. This was probably the first time he’d found a corpse that’d been drained of blood but didn’t have a mark on it. “I don’t know for sure. We need Dr. Tsurugi to hurry with that analysis. Depending on how this plays out, it may become necessary for him to come up with a vaccine. If that’s the case, he will need to do it quickly.”

  “Then you do think it’s a disease after all . . . ” Beads of greasy sweat blossomed across the mayor’s brow.

  -

  Sitting in a block of sunlight spearing through her window, the girl pondered the fate that lay ahead of her. She couldn’t speak or hear. Dr. Tsurugi had given her the truth quite plainly. And she felt like she’d plunged straight into hell. She would be forced to live in a world stripped of all sound, where she couldn’t convey a single thought unless she had a pen in her hand. The physician had tried to console her by saying that she wouldn’t be left with any scars from the radiation poisoning, but what would that matter?

  How old am I, again? The girl tried doing the math once more. Seventeen. At that age, her whole life was still ahead of her. And it’d all been wiped out. When she’d first found out what’d happened, she couldn’t think of anything at all. She just wanted to die. And then he had come. The beautiful face of the man they said had saved her was lodged in her brain. Entirely too gorgeous and completely noncommittal. He saved me, the girl thought, obsessed with the notion. Oh, I hope he comes to see me again. Just one more time.

  A number of sounds passed right by the girl. The footsteps of the physician and nurse as they went down the corridor. The creaking of the gurney bearing what looked to be a dead body. A voice filled with revulsion. Sounds from things like the generator and an electric saw passed right through the thin walls, stirring the girl’s hair. Perhaps you could say she was lucky not to have to hear any of that.

  So, what happens next? This thought alone continued to occupy the girl’s mind. Before she knew it, the light outside her window had taken an azure tint. She had no idea whether the doctor and nurse were in the next room or not. Once the light was gone, she’d be separated from them by an eternal gulf.

  Just then, she saw a figure reflected in the door across from her. As she watched, something like a black stain appeared in one part of the glass, soon spreading across its entirety like a flower opening its petals in a time-lapse film. Before the girl’s very eyes, the stain quickly became a black mass of sorts, its contours shifting faintly as it approached her bed. The girl inched back in spite of herself. She was just about to press the emergency call button when a black hand deftly reached over and snatched it away.

  Well, can you understand what I’m saying?

  Piercing thoughts crept into her head. The girl’s eyes went wide with astonishment.

  Don’t be so surprised. It’s called telepathy. With it, a person can make their thoughts understood without ever speaking. Even a young lady with no voice. Would you care to try it?

  The girl nodded. She moved her head so vigorously it almost looked like some sort of exercise.

  Okay, I’ll show you how to do it. But in return, there’s something I want to ask you. Will you answer me?

  The girl nodded. As her eyes gazed at the unsettling black mass, they seemed to cling to it for dear life.

  I understand certain experiments were conducted at your house. The voice rang through her head, and it was accompanied by a delightful stimulation. The secret of that research is hidden somewhere in your house. Tell me where. No, you don’t need to say it. Think it.

  The girl shut her eyes. Gathering up all she remembered of the life they’d once lived, she began searching for some concrete example of the experiments her father had undertaken. Coming away empty-handed, the girl conveyed that result.

  That can’t be! The shadowy figure’s thoughts were like flames. Your father was involved in forbidden experiments. And only he was able to make them succeed. Answer me. You must remember!

  The question burned in the girl’s brain like molten steel. Her whole body trembling, she collapsed on the bed. At that moment, the door opened. The shadowy figure seemed to look that way.

  “What the hell are you?” Dr. Tsurugi shouted, his words spreading across the room like a wildfire.

  The shadow turned to face the physician without making a sound. Perhaps it was his youth, or maybe he was just reckless, but the physician spread his arms wide and tried to grab hold of the shadowy figure. His hands sank into the intruder’s form. Not just that—the shadow actually passed right through the physician’s body. Molecular intangibility was at work.

  “Hey,” Dr. Tsurugi shouted as he raced to Lori’s side, though he had no idea what was going on. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Managing to follow the movement of his lips, Lori nodded in reply.

  Noticing the pale blue phosphorescence of his own limbs, the physician pulled back in surprise. That was the aftereffect of the molecular intangibility. “Looks like I’ll have to take something for radiation, too,” the physician said absentmindedly, smiling at Lori.

  But in her mind, the shadow’s thoughts still pulsed. You can use telepathy, too, the shadow had said.

  -

  The body of the deceased citizen was to be buried in the town’s cemetery. According to the autopsy, death had resulted from massive and rapid loss of blood—that was all they could tell. The corpse had been checked from the top of its head to the tips of its toes, but, aside from a few minor abrasions, there wasn’t any sign of the fateful wound. As they carried the coffin with the man’s corpse to the cemetery, everyone thought the same thing. When the sun goes down, he’s gonna get up. After the undertaker’s secondhand robots had finished digging the hole, the corpse was laid to rest. The soil was shoveled back in, and the undertaker—who doubled as a reverend—intoned several words of prayer. And with that, the man was firmly laid to rest with the past.

  Soon after, the sun went down. Not a single person remained around this desolate patch of earth, but then a woman of about thirty came with a hurried gait. She was the wife of the man who ran the general store. But there was something strange about the way she walked. It looked like she was being called forward, and didn’t care for it one bit. As the woman moved forward, she threw her head back, dug her heels in, and was tugged along.

  Presently, she stood before the fresh grave. Brushing her cheek against the mounded dirt so it rustled against her skin, she then got to her feet again. Hunching over, with a frightened expression and a chilling grin, she began digging into the fresh grave. With every movement of her hands, a vast quantity of earth was thrown behind her. In no time she had made a small mountain of dirt. Even though the soil was loose from the recent burial, the sheer volume of it was extraordinary.

  When the lid of the wooden box could be seen at the bottom of the hole, the woman’s lips twisted in an expression of sheer delight. What a blackly evil smile it was. The hole was ten feet deep. The woman stared at the box. The sun had already sunk beyond the edge of the plains. Nothing but the white street lights threw any illumination on the woman’s deeds.

  Slowly the coffin began to rise. As if pushed up by the earth itself it ascended, not the least bit unsteady as it approached the lip of the hole. Anxiety and rapture intertwined in the woman’s countenance.

  Rising clean out of the grave, the coffin stopped level with the woman’s chin. The lid of the box opened from the inside, pushed
open by a pale hand. With the same gingerly pace at which the box had risen from the grave, the dead man sat up. Still seated in the coffin, he turned to the woman and smirked. Pearly canines jutted from his mouth. His eyes gave off a red glow. With a look from him, the woman was completely stripped of her freedom. She smiled back at him. With strangely stiff movements, the man climbed down to the ground. The coffin stayed right where it was.

  The man came closer. Saying nothing, the woman waited. For the first time it dawned on her that in life this man had been in love with her. There was a short, soft whistle, and at that point something stuck in the nape of the man’s neck. A thin needle of unfinished wood.

  “Sorry to say this, but that’s as far as you go,” a low voice said. To the man’s right there was a rustling of tree branches. The man was at a loss for words. “And since you’ve risen again, I take it you know what the person who did this to you looks like. Tell me.”

  Even if the man had wanted to answer, he was still pierced through the throat. Needle stuck in his neck, the man leapt back a good six feet, and at the same time the woman crumpled to the ground.

  “You must be destroyed,” D said coldly. “But before you go, you should leave the world of daylight something. How about it?”

  The man reached for the end of the needle with his right hand. He had no difficulty pulling out the wooden shaft D had hurled at him. A stream of blood squirted from the wound. The man pursed his lips.

  D raised his left hand. Holding it flat and straight like a knife, he moved forward. The red stream that issued from the man’s mouth was split down the middle by the edge of the Hunter’s hand, and both halves vanished in the darkness. But D sensed white smoke rising from the ground where the man’s blood had fallen.

  “Quite a strange power you have there,” the Hunter remarked. “But now the end is at hand.” Not giving the man a second chance to purse his lips, D covered him completely with his coat. The moment it opened again, the man fell to the ground unconscious as if jerked down by ropes. Looking down at the man, D said softly, “I’ve taken care of him. Come out now.”