Cavers: A Vampire Tale

by R.G. Richards

Mike Chambers was deep in the woods, hiding in a tree in a deer stand, when he saw a man leaping from tree to tree, before leaping into a truck and riding it down a winding dirt road. Mike put down his binoculars and picked up his rifle. It was Malcolm, and Mike trained his crosshairs right over him, finger gently pushing down on the trigger.

  The truck stopped, Malcolm stepped out. He leaped to a rock ten feet above him and started climbing with his backpack to the top of a waterfall. For a moment he was sprayed by water, and then he found a small, dark cave and entered.

  Malcolm took off his backpack, took out a metal canister and sprayer, connected them, and sprayed the mixture in front of the area where he had hid three cocoons earlier. Minutes later the cave wall started peeling and fell away. Malcolm pulled the first cocoon out and gently laid it on the cave floor by his backpack. He reached into the backpack and pulled out an electronic device and scanned the cocoon. Being happy with its condition, he took a syringe and injected the side of the cocoon; instantly, its color and mass changed. He waited a few minutes, then put two smaller syringes in his pocket and picked the cocoon up and carried it outside to the cave entrance. Once there, he held it tightly and leaped down to the truck once more. He placed the cocoon in the back of the truck and injected the syringe from his pocket into it. The cocoon started falling away slowly, seeming to become some kind of slime that dripped away into the truck’s bed. As it did, Malcolm looped around to the front of the vehicle, retrieved a harness, and returned to the back.

  He saw the form of a young man appearing, as if from solid ice, slowly emerging from the decaying material. When most of the mixture faded, the boy opened his dark eyes, hissed, and showed sharp pointy fangs while trying to move towards Malcolm. Malcolm held up his hand, showing his crest, and injected the youth with another syringe from his pocket to put him to sleep. He carefully placed the harness, like a tight corset, around the boy’s abdomen and zipped it in the front. Once the boy was secure, Malcolm went to the edge of the water and had a cigarette before tackling the next child.

  Mike Chambers had seen it all. With his rifle trained on Malcolm, he waited, took aim, and when Malcolm turned around, Mike squeezed the trigger. Malcolm looked up quickly and fell backward into the water and floated downstream.

  “Whoo-ya!” Mike yelled and stood, pleased with his shooting skills. He put down his gun and looked through his binoculars and saw the man floating off, dead to the world in a pool of blood. He threw down a rope ladder and with his rifle slung over his shoulder, ran to a truck of his own. He raced to the area, and then loaded the boy from Malcolm’s truck into his own. Now the town would have proof of what he had seen. He had been unsuccessful with his earlier renditions of creatures killing his livestock.

  Mayor Taylor Benaford was a portly man of short stature. His round head and receding hair line gave him more the resemblance to a pig than a statesman. His big round nose was no help in dispelling the obvious. He stood, talking in a circle of people when Mike ran in.

  “Hey, hey, hey, I got him! I got the animal that has been doing all the killing in the back of my truck. Come on, everybody!” He turned and ran back outside.

  Seven townspeople followed him out to his truck and saw the restrained boy in the back.

  “Mike, what is the matter with you? Where are that kid’s clothes?” one of the men asked.

  “He is no kid,” said Mike, “he is a goddamn freak show!”

  Doctor Carter was in the crowd and took off his jacket and placed it around the boy. “What is the matter with you people? He brings a naked kid in a strait-jacket in front of you and you just stand there?” His hands fumbled at the boy’s harness.

  “I wouldn’t do that, Doc, this kid has teeth the size of a shark. You want to know what bit through poor Bob Mackey, you are looking at it right there. I saw his teeth with my own eyes and they are sharp, like fangs. He can probably rip the flesh from your bones in a single tear.”

  Doctor Carter stopped and another member of the crowd, John Henry, climbed into the back and opened the boy’s mouth. A collective gasp escaped the crowd: all the boy’s teeth were long, sharp, and two pointed fangs protruded further than the rest.

  “My God, he is right. Look at those teeth! He looks like a damn vampire!”

  As John Henry held the boy’s mouth open, the boy began to stir. His eyelids flickered open, and the crowd saw the darkest, blackest eyes they had ever seen.

  Whipping his hand free with a guttural growl, the boy’s fingernails grew – then, before anyone could move, he swiped them over John Henry, who fell backward, clawing at his face and screaming.

  The crowd began to shriek. People scattered in all directions in a mad rush. Mike, however, stepped forward, hitting the boy hard over the head and knocking him out. Two brave men came forward to help him strap the boy back into the strait-jacket.

  “I told you, I told you all! Next time you better take my word for what I say I saw!” Mike jeered. They were finally starting to recognize him for the hunter he was and he did not want to let the moment get away from him. “Now we have something to show Sheriff Monroe and everyone else. When they see, they’ll agree with us! We have to go back in those woods and find the rest of them. Kill them all! Kill them all!”

  “What do you mean the rest of them?” asked a frightened bystander who had remained.

  “Just what I said, Mable, there has to be more than one of these boys out there. With all the animal attacks and stuff, one person couldn’t have done this by himself, and my pa saw three of these deformed beasts. Now let’s form into groups and go after them! It is our job to keep this town safe. Who’s with me?”

  The men looked at one another with fear etched into their features; it would be dark soon. But, timidly and reluctantly, five men raised their hands.

  Mayor Benaford, seeing fear in their eyes, decided to take charge of the crowd. “Listen to me, folks. I want all you men to go home and warn your families about what we have found here and tell them to stay in their houses with the doors and windows locked. You grab your guns and meet me back here at the community building in a couple hours. Mike and I will take this boy over to the jail and lock him up. Doc Carter, I would appreciate it if you could come with us. You can give him a once-over and try to make sense of all this while we search for the rest of them. Now, folks, this is serious business and we need serious people on the searches. If you can’t be serious then stay home with your families. We don’t need anyone slowing us down with nonsense.” He finished, “All right, let’s get going!”

  George Carter went with Mayor Benaford and Mike Chambers to take the boy across the street to the jailhouse. Mayor Benaford opened the door and the deputy directed them to a holding cell. Doctor Carter examined the boy. When he was done, he dressed the boy in pants and socks, but left him shirtless. Nor did he remove the restraint. The doctor said he would stay and talk to the boy when he woke up so he was left in his care while the others went to plan their assault on the forest and find the sheriff. It was time to get their town under control and make it safe.