by Alexia Purdy
The sun slumbered as I stared at the monitor of the security cameras. Its screen was split into four squares, each square displaying an image from one of the cameras that continually scanned the perimeter of the bunker. I sat on a steel chair that was ever so uncomfortable but it kept me awake, never letting my eyes waver from the screen. It was now burning itself into my retinas, making my eyes dry out. I hadn’t changed and my grimy clothes clung to my skin. My disheveled hair flew in a crazy array of wisps and tangles about my head in a mangled halo, but I did not care. My feet ached, still in boots and sore from the endless search of the day. It was late but I was not going to be sleeping any tonight.
I prayed for them to suddenly appear, waving at me on the screen to let them in. I tapped on one of my katana swords that I had laid out on the desk before me. Its shiny steel surface gleamed under the fluorescent lights as I rocked the blade back and forth. The sun was not going to rise fast enough for me; the waiting agitated me down to my core. My nerves were jumpy and shaky as the overload of caffeine surged through my veins and made my head ache with a feverish pain. Rolling my shoulders, I stood up and stretched, walking over to the medicine cabinet to scavenge for some migraine medicine.
Finding what I needed, I sank back down on the steel chair. The hardness of it made my body protest even more. I grabbed a bottle of water I had left on the desk and swallowed down the two pills. I hated taking medicine if I didn’t have to, but the caffeine and pain relievers were a necessity at the moment. I didn’t want the migraine to get to the point where I would be debilitated and stuck in bed all night and day. I couldn’t afford that when my mother and brother were out in the death-filled night.
Rubbing my temples, I groaned. I had to stay focused. Glancing at the screen again, I jumped as a flash of movement stilled my breath. I scrambled closer to the desk and glowing monitors. The other cameras were still and had showed nothing so I waited, hoping my pounding heart would slow down as I anticipated whatever it was that had moved to round the corner to the next camera.
I didn’t have to wait long; a blur of a figure came into view looking around as if disorientated. A girl or young woman slowly walked by, as oblivious to her surroundings as she was of me watching her. I gulped as I studied her slow, delicate movements and grabbed the camera’s remote to follow her with the lens. I hoped the camera’s movement was quiet enough to not be heard as I followed her in the darkness. It had a night vision lens and the brightness along the person’s skin made me think of my mother. I hoped the vamps had not gotten to her and wondered if maybe it was her. I squinted to study the image closer, zooming in on the figure.
Suddenly, the girl turned her bright, reflecting eyes towards the camera. I held my breath as I watched her inch closer, like a cat in the night toward the camera and seem to sniff up at it, cranking her head to see it better. My lips were numb, pressed so tight together that they were surely white. I waited as she stood on tip toes to get closer. I stilled the camera and observed her. Her fair blonde hair was in tangles and her dress hung on her like shredded rags. Her face had the baby fat of youth with a bruise of shadows under her eyes. Her face was smudged with dirt, adding to the wild look in her bright eyes.
I wondered who she was. Was she a feral? Was she even real? I feared I might have been hallucinating in my sleep-deprived state. She seemed to lose interest in the camera but did attempt one last time to reach up and swipe at the camera. She was too short and missed. I began to suspect she was not human. But what if she was? Indecision bubbled inside me as I wondered if I should go out and see about her. I felt stuck, not sure whether to go or not. If she was a feral, I’d have to kill her. If she wasn’t, I wasn’t ready to let another human into our home, especially without my mother here to consult about it.
On a whim, I grabbed my katana sword and entered the code to open the heavy steel doors. I peeked out and shut it quickly behind me as I slipped into the cloak of night. I shined my flashlight around the trees and brush, heading to her last known whereabouts near the camera. The night was almost blinding; the new moon left the forest engulfed in a black hole of nothingness. The stars shined like pin holes in a canvas of night. I listened and kept alert, hoping the girl was either gone or not in the position to lunge at me.
I did not have to search long; she was standing at the van, which I had parked in the back of the house, and seemed to be trying to fiddle with the door handle. I had the keys so there was no way she was going to steal it. Anyone with carjacking skills would have had that van on the road by now. She seemed clumsy and unsure. I wondered why she was so fascinated with the van. I soon found out exactly what had caught her attention.
She had slipped down into a crouch as her face caressed the side of the door, near the smear of blood that had now dried onto the paint. She scratched at it and licked the dried flakes with her tongue, like a large cat lapping up milk. My disgust made the rage inside me burn. I wanted to smack her off the vehicle and my mother’s blood, to make her suffer. The hatred rampaged through my head as I gripped my sword and pointed the flashlight into her face, briskly approaching her.
“Hey! Get away from there you animal!” I yelled as I got closer. My sword was already held out and set to cut her down. My voice startled her and she backed away and turned to face me. Surprise and fear flashed across her face as I came within sword’s reach of her. Stepping back away from me, she winced as the sword flashed across her face.
“Who are you?” Her thin voice came out shaky and unsure as her eyes darted around at me. I paused, stunned that she had spoken. Feral vampires don’t speak. I shook off my shock as I glared at her.
“It doesn’t matter! Who are you?” I demanded. I nodded to the van as I continued, “you seek blood don’t you?” I stepped one foot closer and she cringed, glancing behind her for an escape route. She had unfortunately gotten herself into a tight spot. The van stood in her way on one side and the wall of the house was at the other. She only had one way out for I was blocking the front. She glanced back to me and shivered as I stepped closer.
“I–I, wait, I don’t know what you mean.” She stuttered as her back pressed against the van. Her wild eyes reflected the beam of the flashlight, much like a cat’s retinas would. This was always a definite sign of a vampire and it confirmed my suspicions. I held the sword ready and continued to approach her.
My hatred boiled in my veins, and the need to connect my blade with her neck felt overwhelming. I wanted her to suffer. My mother and brother were gone because of her. The vampires had killed everyone I had ever loved and they were nothing but blood hungry beasts that did not care about who they sacrificed. She may have looked young and weak, but I knew better. The monster lurking under her skin would rip me to shreds if given any chance. They had no mercy and neither would I.
“You’re in the wrong place at the wrong time; I will make you pay for what you have done to my family,” I growled at her. My voice was almost unrecognizable, even to myself.
“Your family? I–I don’t know them! I’ve done nothing!” Her voice cracked with the terror that spread across her face. She turned and tried to climb up the side of the van to get away. I swung the sword back as I approached. Bringing it around, it easily connected with her neck as a piercing screech escaped her mouth but ended suddenly with the thump of her head on the shattered leaves below. Her headless body convulsed as its missing controller was now gone, slumping to the ground almost immediately. Her black-red blood pooled under the mass of her thin, childlike frame.
My heart was racing and I felt like throwing up. I hadn’t had anything to eat all day or night except the caffeinated drinks I had used to stay awake. Dizziness and utter disgust from everything rushed over me at that moment. Her death had brought me no relief. She wasn’t even a feral. What she had been was a mystery. Ferals do not speak. They had no speech at all. How could she be a vampire and be able to talk? It was an anomaly at best.
The nausea of what I had done overwhelmed me as I backed away from her c
orpse, now still and looking an odd, sickly-pale shade. I turned and ran to the door of the compound, punching several attempts into the keypad before it opened. I scampered inside and slammed the door shut, turning the locks into place as fast as I could. Her blood could attract others if any other vampires were nearby. I was so stupid! What if there were others with her? I could have easily died or have been ambushed.
I couldn’t think anymore as I rushed to a nearby sink, letting my sword clank to the ground as I turned on the ice-cold water, dousing my face in splashes. The shock woke me up a bit more but the terror of what I had done remained. I wet my face one more time before turning the faucet off and looked up into the wild face that stared back at me. I looked like that girl, almost feral in my own human-like way. She hadn’t had a chance against me at all. I was the predator now; she had been an ant under my foot.
I would have to burn her body in the morning but for right now, the exhaustion overwhelmed me. It was 3 am; I would have three hours to rest at best, if I could get any. I rechecked the door and motion detectors before slumping into my bed, kicking off my boots and slipping out of my dirty clothes. I pulled a clean shirt from a stack next to my bed and pulled it over; shorts were my jammies for now. Pulling my blanket up to my chin and stuffing the pillow under my head, I closed my burning eyes as my mind finally succumbed to a cocoon of restless sleep.
Chapter Six