And if not for us, our race! I am living proof that the doctor’s method work.”
Neysor was excited and terrified, he was unsure how his brothers would react now and even more so how his crew would. It took him several seconds to decide that he wanted to share his news with the entire world, “Yes, go get changed into your dress uniform.”
He leaned in for a kiss but stopped as the doctor appeared from around the corner of the mesh door, “Commander Neysor! Come with me!”
Before Neysor could tell her not to interrupt her commander she was gone, “Go get dressed my dear, I will see you on the bridge.” Shenim kissed her commander before he darted away after the doctor. Her mind had drifted to thoughts of child names as she gleefully made her way toward her quarters.
Neysor’s blood pumped loudly in his ears as he ran toward the doctor’s room. He was having to constantly remind himself that he was awake and that his love was, in fact, great with child. The end of the hall was in sight and Neysor struggled to remember which of the many doors was the doctor’s.
“Doctor?” a door a few feet from him opened and he ducked into the dimly lit room where the doctor sat at her desk.
“Hurry up would you?” Neysor went to bark at her for insubordination but stopped himself when he saw her excited face as he made his way toward her desk,
“What is it doctor?” She turned her head up to him, her pale grey eyes darting between her computer and Neysor’s face. He remembered when he had first met her, it was just over two hundred years prior. She was a little girl with a passion for helping people and, for one hundred and fifty years, she had trained under the watchful eye of Neysor before starting out on her own. Abandoning her name, as many chose to do, and simply became who she was; a doctor.
“I fixed it commander!” Confusion and insubordination were apparently the day’s themes.
“Fixed what?”
She pointed frantically at her screen, “The neural decay and viral component!” Shock filled the room as Neysor shook his head in disbelief.
He tapped the screen’s top and grabbed the rectangular cartridge that came out before plugging it into a port in the wall behind him which lit up and splashed the room in colour from the graphical data, “How? How did you do this?”
The amazement on his face only continuing to intensify as he read, “I don’t know commander, I was working with what Lai sent me from engineering after I tended to her wounds and it all fit together.”
There was a connection in the data, something else beyond the perfected cloud, “Wait… Here, if we released this the effects of the initial virus would be reversed!”
The doctor nodded happily, “Yes commander, we could rebuild this world. So shall I send the data to the other ships?”
Neysor struggled to make words as he read through everything in front of him, “No, not just yet. Call everyone to the bridge, we are going to have a celebration.”
The Bandits
Being back in relative safety felt good, I closed my eyes as I splashed water onto my face. The white porcelain sink now a rusty red, the rain hadn’t quite rinsed out my beard fully.
I looked up into the mirror, yes I have a reflection, deal with it. Anyway, being a vampire I’d grown out my hair very quickly. It fell in ringlets and bounced as I moved. While my beard was thick and soft, hanging down past my neck, it kept it warm but was starting to get in the way.
I tied my hair back with a band from the corner of the sink and started trimming with a pair of scissors; the thick bunches falling into the red stained porcelain, the shape of my face slowly becoming clearer. It felt strange, like my head was a kilo lighter.
“Johnathon! Get out here!” I dropped the scissors and shook my hair until the band came loose. Then walking through the bathroom doors and into the open lounge room where the light from half a dozen candles bounced around the otherwise pitch black room.
“I was born John Prince, no athon. What do you want?”
The guys were bundled around the couch with a large piece of paper, “Plan time, I need help to figure this thing out, what exactly is the idea, who goes with the plane?”
Steve put his hand up, “I'll go, I've got a feeling that being a vampire will have its advantages in this mission.”
I felt uncomfortable being with a guy who hadn't exactly been happy about finding me, but he had a point, “Alright, we'll take the plane, you two stay on the ground, as soon as that thing comes down get to tracking everyone.”
Marcus was rubbing the towel wrapped around his neck on his ears, “They may not all be together, who should we focus on tracking primarily?”
A second didn't pass before I let out, “Kate, find Kate.”
Mark opened and closed his mouth a few times before settling for a nod, Steven wasn't so kind. “What if she's dead?”
I looked at him, his eyes cold and empty, locked with mine, he really hated me, “Simple, if that's happened I kill everything, with my hands.”
He broke the stare and chuckled condescendingly, “You really think highly of yourself, don't you John?”
I gnashed my teeth in my mouth, “Yeah, I really do.”
He looked back at me, a sly smile playing across his lips, “You know she doesn't love you John. She used to work at that bar, you know? The one with Amanda,” My hands clenched, he was doing this deliberately, “yeah, she wore that uniform pretty well, this time we went back to mine the-”
I lunged at him before he could finish his word. My nails hitting his chest and digging into the flesh. He let out a roar of pain and caught my arm, quickly twisting it behind my back. Using the other to lock around my neck, pulling inward in what felt like an attempt to decapitate me.
I used my free arm and slammed my elbow into his ribs loosening his grip on me. Bringing me an opportunity, I dropped down, spinning my body in the process and tripped him up with my leg. He tried to catch himself when he spun as I shot back up, driving my fist into his lower back. There was a dull crunch and he collapsed onto the floor, his mouth wide open but no sound escaped.
I knelt down beside him, “That's why I'm sure of myself.” I stood back up, Harry had his sword drawn while Marcus had taken to sitting on the couch, catching me looking at him disapprovingly, “What? Like I’m going to get involved in a vampiric punch up, hopefully this- whatever this is, sorts out, at least for the next few days, we need to go see those bandits, like you said, we could make some good bombs with that fuel.”
I rolled a cringing Steven over with my foot, “You're coming with me to the bandits, understood?”
He snarled slightly, then half-nodded, “Good, now get up.” He just kept staring at me, pain and annoyance in his eyes. It took me a few seconds to realise what I’d done to him, “You can't move, can you?”
There was a long pause before he shook his head, “Are you going to fight me again?”
He shook his head, “No, I get it. And what I said about Kate... That wasn't true.”
I let out a sigh, “I know, come on, I'll help you get to the couch.”
I extended my hand, but he remained flat on the floor, “I can't move at all.”
I withdrew my hand, “Right, damn, well, Harry, get him a blanket, I think we should turn in anyway, we'll head to the camp tomorrow.”
Marcus poked me in the shoulder, “I don't think that's happening. Everyone down!”
I dropped down as the windows shattered, Harry was now laying on the other side of Steve, “Hey John! Why don't we try talking to them?”
We both just laughed under the roar of gunfire, “You first!”
The shooting continued for several more seconds before stopping suddenly, allowing for a voice to call across the street,
“Good evening gentlemen, how are you holding up!?”
I still hadn't stopped laughing, “I like these guys, very polite, I'm going to introduce myself.”
Marcus tried to pull me down but Harry grabbed his arm, still unable to wip
e the grin off his face, “Let him go, I want to see how this goes.”
I looked through the shattered window frame to see that in the opposite building's second floor stood three men, balaclavas covering their faces, “Hello! How are you?”
The front man gave me a thumbs up, “We're doing really rather well this evening, seeing as you survived that blast I think it's only fair to give you a chance, give us the guns mate and we'll be on our way!”
I gestured for Harry and Marcus to move Steve away as a grabbed the frying pan which had held our dinner, “Well, I don't know about guns! But I do have this lovely pan!”
A bullet whizzed past my head, “I won't miss next time!”
I gave them a huge smile, “Good!” I brought the pan in front of my face as bullets flew, entering my body but just as quickly exiting. It hurt, but nowhere near as much as it had been before.
The firing ceased and I brought down the pan, my wounds healing over under my now tattered and torn clothes, “Look at what you've done! I loved this shirt!” I frisbeed the pan at one of the shooters, spraying blood on their messenger, “And you're still not getting my guns!”
The remaining two had darted back into the dark room, “Come back! I thought we could be friends!” I looked around to see the others sitting behind the kitchen bench, I tore off my destroyed shirt and tossed it aside, “Harry, can you grab my bottle and a new shirt from the bag? And if you can move Steve, you're coming with me, I'm going to sniff those guys out.”
Harry tossed the
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