by RR Haywood
The smell comes from a big old warehouse just to the side. No noise or nothing else coming from it, just the smell. We get close until my nose is pressed against the crack in the door and I’m inhaling deep.
People inside. More than one. The blood is fresh and close. Just the other side of this door. My mouth is full of spit, that hunger is worse now, driving me to get these doors open. I get hold of the door and give it a pull. It rattles some but don’t open. Harry and the fella’s take a hold and we pull together, giving it heave after heave. I guess they feel strong too as the door is wrenched open. Splintering the lock as we drag it wide.
The moonlight reflects of the scared faces staring at us. Young and old, male and female. One of them is holding a rag to a wound on some bitches arm. She must have cut it somehow and stayed quiet for fear of us hearing her, but the smell did it.
‘Motherfuckers,’ I greet the people with a big grin as we go inside. Our bulk blocks the light, casting them in shadows. They scream but that just gets us going.
There it is, that feeling I said about. My fella’s and those things want to bust on in there and start feasting but they ain’t doing it cos I ain’t said they could. Only I don’t need to say they can, not loud from my voice. I can do it in my head.
But fuck that, I ain’t letting them dumb-fucks go ahead of me. No Sir, if there’s feasting to be done, I’m getting me some. I charge in, grinning at the little faces and getting off on the fear they putting out. They scream and thrash and some even try to fight back but it don’t matter none. They all fucked.
I get a nice bitch. With blonde hair and big juicy titties. She wails and begs but my hands hold her like a vice, pulling her in close. Those titties looking all juicy so I take me a nice big bite, sinking my teeth into one of them and biting through the material of her shirt.
Hot blood fills my mouth and I swear, I ain’t never tasted nothing like it. Like metal or something but hot and sticky and mother-fucking delicious. I swallow it down and the lump of flesh that I tore away, that gets swallowed down too. Strangest thing, but once I done that I don’t want her no more. I want me another one. So I grab another one, this one a man trying to hide in the deep shadows of the corner. I drag him out by his ankle. He kicks and cries like a bitch but I lift him up, all the way up by the ankles till he hands upside down beating at my legs. I bite into the back of his leg, in the thick muscle. The flesh comes away nice and easy, all tender and succulent. I swallow that down too, moaning with pleasure at the taste, then I drop him to the floor. His nose busts open from hitting the deck and he grabs at his leg being all like a bitch.
Looking round to get me another one but they all gone. The greedy sons of bitches have taken them all. Every other one of them is bitten and bleeding. Dying on the floor and shittin’ their pants.
A feeling of pleasure grips me. Like I done something good and now I get rewarded. This is what we’re meant to do. Eat the humans, no…not eat them but bite them. Make them be like us. I get why those things were chasing us now. Hell, I’d chase now I know what it tastes like.
I stand back and watch as they die. Just like me they go kicking and screaming, fighting to the last breath. Then they start twitching and shit, like they getting zapped by a live wire. Minute later and they’re standing up, all with red eyes like the rest of us.
Funny thing is, I don’t remember no twitching. Just one minute I was dying and the next I wasn’t . Full of pain and then it was gone, like it had never been there and it was all in my head.
These fuckers must be the same, except they all dumb and stupid and ain’t thinking like I do. No, they looking at me like I’m a god again.
Scooby snack done and we keep going, following the river. The sides here are just high walls with the water lapping at them with no way of getting out to a boat unless you willing to get wet. I don’t mind getting wet, hell, I can swim but fuck only if I have to.
Further down we find the berthing place, some pontoons with boats tied on. Big expensive looking speed boats all sleek with tiny tinted windshields so the posh folk don’t mess up their fluffy hair.
The big metal gate at the end of the pontoon ain't no obstacle, my strong arms pull me up easy. I ain’t never felt this powerful, even jumping down the other side don’t send no pain through my knees like it should. My fella’s get over but the other dumb-fucks don’t seem to grasp the concept of climbing. Colin looks at the gate and pulls the handle back from the inside, swinging it open to let the others walk through.
On the pontoon I go from boat to boat, looking to see which one we can take. All of these boats need a key to start them up. We have to go back out the gate and down the water edge. We find another gated pontoon and I climb over to open it from the inside.
Same thing here, all the posh boats need keys. There might be some way of starting ‘em up without a key but I ain’t got that kind of knowledge, car-jacking was never my style.
Next one down and I don’t need to climb over the big gate, seeing as there’s a rotten corpse holding it open for us. Looks like rats and shit have been eating at it, all the face chewed off and big lumps missing from the arms and legs, white bone sticking out in places.
Another rotten ass corpse on the pontoon. Some posh boy that had fluffy hair and wearing them stupid mother-fucking brown boat shoes and tight shorts with some striped jersey. Fucking dumb-ass is all chewed up too and he covered in bird shit so I guess the local vultures or whatever the fuck they have here have been pecking the fuck out of him. But he does have a long coiled brightly coloured thing attached to his belt loop with a big shiny key on the end. I take the key and work down the boats, trying to stick it in the holes.
It fits in a big ass mother-fucking stream-lined thing with the tiny wind-shield and the flat front bit where the posh bitches sunbathe. Ain’t much room on here, not enough to take all my posse so I stick with my gang.
Funny thing is, I think it and they do it. My gang get in the boat and I don’t have to say shit. They just do it. The other motherfuckers just stand there staring at me. Hell, I almost feel guilty for leaving ‘em but there ain’t no room and thinking about it; I don’t wanna take no big group with me. Those fuckers at the fort will see a big group a mile off. I don’t wanna leave ‘em but fuck it, ain’t got no choice.
The boat is easy to use, gotta be for the retards that own ‘em. Press the button and the engine starts, lever goes forward and back and a dinky ass steering wheel.
‘We tied on Randy,’ Colin tells me. I know we fucking tied on, I can see the fucking ropes for myself through the fucking eyes in my fucking head, but I know he don’t mean shit by it.
‘Take ‘em off,’ he does as told. Getting back out to pull the ropes off then gets back in quick like, in case we go off without him.
Takes me a few minutes to get the hang of it, smashing and bumping into the side of the pontoon and cracking a few other boats. Making it move is easy enough, but getting the thing to turn is harder than it looks. Go back and twist the wheel, go forward and turn it the other way, like a car. Only there ain’t no brake to hold it still so it keeps moving and smashing into other stuff.
Fuck, ain’t my boat so it don’t matter. I get us out into the river and facing the right way, then I push the lever forward. The boat pulls away like a mustang. They got signs saying five knots. I don’t know what a knot is but I guess it’s pretty slow. Fuck that, ain’t no river police gonna come along now.
Few seconds later and we’re going past the big white boat and into the open sea. Everything is black as fuck, dark with no lights anywhere. I guess normally there be lights everywhere for the ships to aim at, but now is just darkness. The moon is bright as fuck and I know the mainland is that way so I figure we just aim that way and see what happens.
Motherfucker this feels good. The wind blasting into my face, hot wind not like in the yard when we get outside time and the cold, damp wind gets under your clothes. This like Miami or some shit. The water is flat as fuck too, ai
n’t no waves nowhere so the boat just goes straight on with hardly any bouncing.
‘Harry, you know where this mother-fucking fort is?’ I have to shout coz of the engine noise. He nods back but don’t say nothing.
He puts his left arm up and points across the water, ‘Southampton,’ he says, then holds his right arm up and points across the water but down aways, ‘Portsmouth.’
‘Which one we need?’ He drops the left arm and holds the right one still. Portsmouth, everyone in the world has heard of Portsmouth and the English navy and that famous ship that sank when it came out.
‘Is the fort on the water?’ He nods again, ‘we don’t wanna go there, they’ll hear us…’ He nods. Fuck, I see the thing in us has made him a new man, all chatty and shit.
Man that juicy tittie was good, tasted so damn good. That leg too. Both of ‘em tasted good as shit and makes me hungry just thinkin’ bout it.
That fort is fucked. We gonna fuck it up and eat every motherfucker in there.
Twenty-Four
‘Listen…can you hear it? Yes? Coming from the water…’
‘I hear it Marcy,’ he cocks his head to one side, opening his mouth to hear better. The dull thud of an engine coming from the river. It ticks over for a few minutes then roars to a loud scream.
I sprint towards the big vehicle ferry, just in time to see the large cruiser go flying past. Fully loaded with big men.
‘Was that them?’ I ask one of the inmates stood near me.
He nods back, watching the boat as it melts into the darkness of the water, ‘that’s them,’ he tells me in the same flat tones.
‘Are they turned?’ Reginald calls out as he jogs up, being too slow to keep up with the sprinting.
‘I don’t know, too far to tell.’
‘None of the bodies are the inmates,’ he reports, ‘they’re all old living challenged, I mean old as in the number of days they’ve been turned not old in terms of their physical age. None of them are fresh and judging by the number of bodies I would suggest they were opposed by a formidable group which would fit the profile of the inmates. There is a large pool of blood in the middle of the road and but relatively fewer bodies in that area. I determine they got turned, went down bleeding and then went off.’
‘That’s an assumption…’
‘No,’ he cuts me off, ‘more of a calculation based on the evidence. What does it matter? Either way they are gone and it does not impact on your…our plans.’
‘If they are turned then they have clearly retained intelligence by the fact they’re using a boat, which means we could have joined forces.’
‘Joined forces?’ He asks me with surprise, ‘I thought your plan was to kill them for what they did.’
‘If they were human yes, but not if they were turned. There’d be no point in holding them accountable for their previous sins.’
‘I understand,’ he nods in agreement, glancing back at some of the sex offenders in our group. ‘Well that’s your vehicle ferry,’ he adds looking up at the ship. ‘Can any of our living challenged drive it?’
‘I don’t know, I can’t access what they’re capable off, go and ask them.’
‘Right, well I’ll do that then shall I?’
‘Yes Reggie, you do that.’
‘I mean, we couldn’t get one of the others to do it…young Jerry here would make a great asker of questions…and please, my name is Reginald.’
‘Reggie, what’s wrong?’
‘Nothing,’ he answers too quickly, his voice just a tone too high.
‘What is it?’
‘Nothing Marcy, really there is nothing wrong…only how many more are we going to get that are capable of speaking? Only it seems we do have rather a lot now.’
‘Why is that a bad thing?’
‘Oh I am not suggesting it’s a bad thing, only if we have so many speakers then why not use them to speak…instead of me all the time.’
‘Well why don’t you ask them to speak then, I ask you and you can delegate to them.’
‘I can do that can I? Delegate I mean?’
‘Yes Reggie, you can delegate, you have been delegating for most of the day anyway.’
‘Only when I’ve seen you are busy and I haven’t wished to disturb you.’
‘Well feel free to delegate away, delegate to your hearts content.’
‘Jerry, go and find out if anyone can drive this boat please,’ he asks the boy. Jerry scoots off quickly, heading towards the massed group standing quietly.
‘We’re growing Marcy, look how many there are now and I still can’t quite believe how those last ones volunteered.’
‘After what they’d been through you can hardly blame them. Reginald, you need to understand this cannot all rest on one person. This is not about me. This is about us; the species. If something happens to me then you have to be able to take over, if you go then it has to be another one. The thing inside us wants you to adore me and it wants you to turn as many as you can. You must fight against that Reggie, there is another way here. I know it.’
He stares at me, nodding gently.
‘That means,’ I look at him and then at the others stood with us, ‘that if I don’t make it, then someone else has to hand themselves over to the fort and make them understand. Tell them about the diabetes. Mildred, you tell them about your arthritis and the others that don’t feel pain. Tell them what happened at the house and how this took away all the pain. This thing might cure HIV or Hepatitis, cancer even…the possibilities are too big for us to just let it go. Promise me.’
‘I promise Marcy,’ Reggie says earnestly.
‘No Reggie, I mean promise, really promise, not just from the devotion you feel for me, not that but from you…from all of you, swear it.’
‘Marcy I swear it,’ Reginald says in a firm voice.
‘I will go if you fail,’ Mildred replies, ‘they may see me as less threatening anyway, maybe I should go instead of you…or possibly with you.’
‘That’s a good idea,’ Reggie beams, ‘a very good idea.’
‘Me too, I swear it,’ Sally adds, ‘you could have ripped us apart but you didn’t. I feel that hunger now, I know we all have it…I will willingly go in your place.’
‘No, I will go but just be prepared to take my place.’
‘Marcy my dear, may I make a suggestion?’ Mildred asks.
‘Of course.’
‘If you go alone, they may see just one with retained intelligence, and from what you’ve said they will know some of us can retain our…er…personality for want of a better word, but if several go with you to represent a cross section it may assist in showing them it’s not a trick or some ploy to gain entrance.’
She makes a good point. A very good point. She looks old and dignified with her greying hair swept up into a tight bun. If I approached with her, maybe Jerry and Sally, Reginald too there is no way we could look threatening. But that puts more at risk of being killed outright.
‘I’ll consider it,’ I nod back, ‘seriously, it’s a very good suggestion but we have to weigh it up with the risk of us all being killed outright.’
‘Which is why you shouldn’t go,’ Reginald cuts in.
‘Reggie, that is the chemical reaction talking, you have to guard against that and understand this is not about me.’
‘Sorry…it’s very hard,’ he mutters.
‘We all feel it Marcy,’ Mildred says, ‘you don’t have that feeling towards yourself so perhaps you don’t understand it. We all feel devoted you, an intense feeling of deep love. Especially Jerry,’ she adds with a smile at the boy running back towards us holding the hand of an adult male communicator. The sight warms all of us. The action is completely unnecessary, the male host would simply follow him as requested with no need for physical contact. But the boy has retained enough character to want to hold his hand and lead him. That very action is why this must be done.
I know for a fact that not one of the hosts in this crowd would eve
r harm a hair on that boys head, nor any of the children within our group. Even the sex offenders we turned do not feel any urge towards anyone other than equal and matched love.
‘Can you drive it?’ Reginald asks the man being led by Jerry.
‘I can,’ he replies flatly.
‘How?’ I ask him.
‘I was second officer for another ferry company,’ he replies monotone.
‘What’s your name?’ Reginald asks.
‘Howard,’ his reply invokes a sudden silence as Reginald glances at me.
‘Howard? Do you know Howie?’ Stupid question, how would he know but it comes out before I can think.
‘No.’
‘Do you have any children?’ Reginald asks, taking a look at the age of the man.
‘No, I was gay.’
‘Was gay? Why was?’ I ask.
‘I’m not anything now.’
‘Tell me Howard, do you fancy anyone?’ His reply interests me greatly.
‘No.’
‘No urges of a sexual nature at all? Do any of you feel attraction to anyone?’
‘You,’ I get a chorus of replies.
‘Other than me…that’s the infection or virus or whatever it is inside…apart from me?’
Shaking heads all round. I fancied Darren but then that must have been the infection within me, making me feel like that. It went the second he died.
I glance round at some of the men gathered here. I don’t feel devotion to anyone, not the same as they do towards me. I feel loyalty and love for them, but not that extreme emotion they’re experiencing. Some of them are very attractive, chiselled features, some look intelligent and cultured, some of them are handsome enough to have been models. I can certainly admire their form, their physical attributes but I don’t feel an attraction to any of them.
No, that almost feels incestuous, like we’re related. The mere suggestion of sexual activity with any of them repulses me. That could cause a problem. If we are to survive as a species then procreation would need to take place, but procreation needs urges and without urges there will be no procreation. Unless they just do it as an act of breeding without the pleasure.