Blood Harvest

by Michael Weinberger

  Kunnert began to gently clean the area around the wound with a dark yellow-brown liquid Lei recognized as iodine. Then he opened a package of the gauze and mopped up the excess liquid while he dabbed at the blood pooling inside her incision.

  Lei winced as Kunnert pushed the gauze into her open wound. She knew this was the proper procedure for caring for the kind of wound she was enduring, and knew he was doing what he must to properly care for and close the incision. The anxiety she felt about still being incapacitated made the pain even more intolerable.

  “Why are you helping me?”

  Kunnert looked up from his work, “Helping you?” he asked, momentarily confused. Then a look of clarity washed over his face. “Ah, I see. Well, I would imagine I am dressing your wound because there is a great deal I wish from you and an infection to the abdomen would not serve my purposes in that endeavor.”

  Lei remained quiet as Kunnert began to squeeze some of the antibiotic cream onto his fingers.

  “I suppose infection isn’t something your kind suffers from given that miraculous physiology you and yours possess, but I am nothing if not a creature of habit so you’ll indulge me won’t you?”

  Lei didn’t answer the question and instead asked one of her own: “Where are the rest of my people?”

  “You don’t remember your little ride here?” Kunnert nodded, “Yes, many of your people are with us now. Rest assured, they are completely safe and their every need is being attended to by the staff of this building. You have no need to worry.”

  The memory of the battle in the caverns came flooding back to her. She began to tremble as Kunnert reached for a set of clamps along with the needle and thread.

  “How many are here?” Lei was rambling at this point but hearing her own voice was calming to her.

  Kunnert again turned away from his work to face Lei.

  “Is that what you want to know? Or would you like me to answer the question you are really asking?”

  Lei was astonished the man had picked up her little deception, but pressed forward innocently, “And what question would that be?”

  ”How many were killed that night in the mine?” As Kunnert spoke he inserted the needle into the point of the incision furthest from her navel.

  Lei’s breath caught in her throat from the shock of pain from the needle and because of what Kunnert had just stated. She grimaced as he slowly weaved a thread through each side of the cut and fastened a knot in the first stitch.

  “All right,” Lei continued, “how many were killed?”

  Kunnert faced her again and looked directly into her eyes, “By my best estimation nearly five hundred and fifty-two.”

  “Five hundred…and…” The number caught as tightness ensnared her breathing.

  “And fifty-two.” Kunnert finished the sentence for her and inserted the needle into the flesh for the second of a series of stitches.

  Lei winced again, but the pain wasn’t as bad as it had been previously.

  “And how many of my people are here?”

  “We have beds on the security floor for thirty-five hundred, most of them are full; in fact, I believe we are at capacity.”

  Lei wanted to scream but held it in. “That’s…that’s not possible. There are just under three thousand people in our community.”

  “True enough,” Kunnert responded amicably, “but if you count all of those from Los Angeles, then the numbers work out.”

  Everything Alpha had feared might happen had come to pass. The entire clan was either dead or abducted to this hell, wherever this place was. If there were indeed thirty-five hundred people lying in beds on what this man called the security floor and over five hundred dead then the few who remained would number in the dozens, far too few to form any kind of rescue effort. Those dozens would be mostly civilians—she had been watching when most of her fellow hunters were cut down. At the moment she realized the last thing she remembered was having attacked this man before something struck her from behind.

  She turned her eyes to face the man who had now closed her wound halfway across the incision.

  “You know, I would have killed you if I hadn’t been interrupted,” she said in a mocking tone.

  Kunnert had been looking at her nakedness, but his eyes darted back to her face as the jibe registered. He just looked at her and Lei returned the look with a glare that would have killed if looks could kill.

  Kunnert pursed his lips and nodded in what appeared to be agreement then reached over to the tray with the hand not holding the suturing needle and retrieved a probe from inside the kit. The tip of the probe was blunt, rounded and bent at a forty-five degree angle. Kunnert held the instrument over the wound briefly as Lei’s eyes shot from the probe to Kunnert’s face and back to the probe.

  Kunnert never looked at Lei’s face as he hooked the probe inside her wound near her navel and stretched the broken flesh upward.

  Lei screamed as she felt the probe penetrate the inside of her body and mercilessly pull at something unyielding under her skin. The probe had hooked onto a part of her insides resilient enough not to tear, but a searing pain unlike any she had ever felt before ran through her body.

  The look on Kunnert’s face was one of pure and unbridled wrath as he jerked on the handle of the probe, which caused the pain to increase with each manipulation.

  When he finally relented Lei was panting and tears flowed freely, but she did not sob. Kunnert noticed this and appeared to be a little impressed by her resistance. He placed the probe back on the tray and resumed his stitching of her wound.

  “Maybe someday, if you play your cards right, we will be able to test your skills when you aren’t jumping me from behind. In any case, and I know this may come as a bit of a shock for you to hear, but the rest of your people are being utilized as nothing more than a resource for the creation of our product. Vegetables to be harvested as they ripen on their silicone vines; I however, am going to offer you an alternative to that fate. Accept it and you will be able to continue in my service, refuse me and you’ll join your people in their silicone garden.”

  “Don’t bother even asking, just take me to the rest of my people and turn me into a turnip or whatever. I’d rather be a brainless vegetable than be anything to you.”

  Kunnert chuckled, “Are you so sure girl? You know you might enjoy your position or positions as the case may be, after a time.”

  “I doubt it. When I was a little girl I spent some time in Mexico. I supported myself by performing in the novelty shows…a low point in my life. It all happened before Alpha found me, but I’d rather go back to those shows before I’d agree to do anything with you.

  “What?” Kunnert looked shocked.

  “Yes, that’s right. I fucked donkeys more appealing than you.”

  Immediately losing his patience, Kunnert’s fist slammed the right side of her face and Lei felt a tooth loosen. The back of his fist slammed the other side of her face as her head whipped to the right then a straight punch drove into her abdomen right where he had just finished stitching her wound.

  The pain of the punch to her stomach was heightened by the pain of the thread pulling at her fresh wound; to her amazement, none of the new stitches broke or tore.

  Attempting to regain his composure, Kunnert said, “If that is the way you want to play it, fine. I require information, so answer my questions and I will leave you to think about your fate.”

  Lei offered a short quick laugh, “This is going to be a long night…and you hit like a girl.”

  Chapter 40

  “You’re already inside?” Alpha said with surprise. “Excellent! Make yourselves scarce until you hear from me again.”

  Alpha clicked the mobile phone shut. “Good news, the remaining hunters are infiltrating the Pharmanetics building now; they’ll conceal themselves and await our arrival.”

  Alpha, Steve, and Chris were on a corporate jet Alpha had somehow secured for them, along with a pilot and a flight plan. They were en rou
te to Los Angeles International Airport. The large amount of automatic weapons and ammunition they were sorting through and assembling en route precipitated the need for the private plane. Steve snapped the weaponry together with military efficiency while Chris loaded the multiple magazines with the ammunition he had spread out on a towel in front of him. No one spoke or looked up at Alpha as they worked their tasks. This was not a time for words. This was a time for action.

  “Gentlemen, listen to me. I have several of my people inside the building. They will assist us when, and only when, the time is right.”

  ”How many?” Chris asked.

  “Fifteen.”

  “That means they’re probably going to out-number us pretty severely.” Chris volunteered.

  “Each one of my hunters is worth at least three to four of their soldiers,” Alpha said with considerable pride.

  “They didn’t do too well earlier in the mine,” Steve stated.

  Alpha nodded. “Those pigs surprised us all with their sneak attacks and automatic weapons. Now we shall surprise them!”

  “Are your men armed?” Chris asked.

  “They do not need to be, they are hunters trained in the old ways. Believe me, what you will see tonight will show you how technology can be as much a burden as a benefit.”

  Chris looked at Steve skeptically.

  “I promise you, my people will be there when you need them and the blood will run.”

  “I want no unnecessary bloodshed Alpha.” Steve said with authority.

  “You know the discipline. The hunters have their orders and will not attack,” Alpha gestured in an overly exaggerated manner, “until absolutely necessary.”

  ”And when will that be?” Chris asked without looking up from what he was doing.

  “When you give me the signal, I will give them the signal.”

  Steve nodded, “Okay, good…good.”

  Chris looked at Steve with one eyebrow raised in a question.

  “What?” Steve asked.

  “You’re one of them aren’t you?”

  “I thought we established that some time ago.”

  “No, not the vampire part. You’re one of these ‘hunters’ Alpha keeps mentioning.”

  When Steve didn’t answer Alpha chimed in. “He’s far more than that.”

  Steve shot Alpha a look.

  “Hunters? Doesn’t sound like a very benevolent job description.” Chris said sarcastically.

  Alpha nodded. “Perhaps not, but they were definitely necessary in the past and given our current circumstances today.”

  Turning to Steve, “What did you hunt?” Chris asked.

  “Nothing. I was the lead tracker. It was my job to find any of our kind who may have been in the throes of the madness and bring them back to the fold or…”

  “Dispatch them.” Alpha finished the sentence when Steve hesitated.

  “You killed them?”

  Steve could only nod in response.

  Chris began to react when Alpha chimed in.

  “When one of our kind goes into the madness there is no return. Their end was a merciful hastening of the inevitable while protecting the public at large.”

  “Protecting the secret of your existence as well I would imagine,” Chris surmised.

  Alpha looked directly at Chris in an uncompromising and unrepentant glare. “Yes, that too.”

  Chris raised the palms of his hands in supplication and Alpha’s demeanor eased.

  “That was only one of the job descriptions,” Steve offered indignantly. “There were also hunters who served as security for our people. In the early years both groups lived up to their names and were responsible for the collection of kidnapped victims who were returned to the collective as living food bags; hence, the title ‘Hunter.’”

  “In the early years?” Chris asked.

  “Or so I had been taught. I was instructed in the old ways, but I had always thought it was something we had to learn to improve our skills for the protection of our people and ourselves. I never knew this ‘serum’ we live on is derived from the blood and organs of innocents.”

  Alpha regarded Steve and shook his head, “He was one of the most talented hunters I have ever trained. His only weakness was an unfortunate, overabundant sense of morality. It was and still is blinding you to the truth. How you ever managed to become a detective is beyond me.”

  “That’s enough Alpha.” Steve’s voice was as cold as Chris had ever heard it.

  Alpha did not back down, instead he intensified his fervor and faced Steve unflinching. “No it is not nearly enough. You are prideful, stubborn and so ready to believe the worst that you have never given me the opportunity to defend my actions from all those years ago.”

  Steve stood his ground as he returned the intense glare Alpha was giving him. “What’s there to defend? You kidnapped and drained the blood of those people into the same collection bags I’d seen used to create the serum! I heard their screams and… ”

  “NO…I…DID…NOT!!!” This time when Alpha spoke his voice was low, resonant and guttural. In fact, it barely sounded human. Chris felt an unnatural chill grip his spine; he desperately felt his instincts tell him to run away.

  Chris noticed Steve was also taken aback, but he couldn’t tell whether it was from the change in Alpha or the denial Alpha had just made.

  “I know what I saw.” Steve said with a bit less confidence than he had moments ago.

  “No, you don’t. That is what I have been trying to tell you but you have never given me the chance. And since I have you trapped at the moment you will listen to me, NOW!”

  Steve slapped the bolt closed on the rifle he was holding. The weapon was loaded and he clicked the safety switch to off.

  “Uh, Steve. Maybe firing a high powered automatic rifle inside a pressurized airplane isn’t such good idea?”

  Steve aimed the rifle at Alpha’s head. Alpha stood firmly with an unimpressed look on his face.

  “Hello?” Chris called out to Steve.

  “Crap.” Steve lowered the rifle, engaged the safety and tossed it on the seat next to him.

  “Excellent. Now, the first part of your story is correct. All of those people were kidnapped and, yes, we did drain them, but they were not sacrificed.”

  “That’s not…” Steve started to object but Alpha quickly cut him off.

  “SHUT YOUR MOUTH and listen. They were all like us. They had been retrieved and were on the verge of madness. Yes, they were taken without consent, but that was necessary because they had no idea who or what they were. They knew they were sick but the outside medical world couldn’t pinpoint their ailment. So when we took them they were obviously afraid despite our reassurances to the contrary. You experienced this several times in your own duties did you not?”

  Steve was dumbfounded. “Well…yes, but I hadn’t retrieved…”

  “You were not our only trained tracker. How could you have ever thought you were?”

  “What?!? Why wasn’t I ever told there was another?”

  “Because you knew how dangerous one of our kind could become when in the grips of the madness. You would have been…conflicted…if you knew the other one was facing such dangers.”

  “Oh God no.” Steve whispered. “Not Lei.”

  “Exactly. She was perfect for the job and between the two of you we always had the right combination of skills depending on the situation presenting itself. Where you used subterfuge and guile she used allure and wile.”

  “But that night in the caves?”

  Alpha shrugged his shoulders. “We were doing what used to be called a ‘direct transfer.’ In the old days we’d force the blood down their throats. In the last century we found that draining the inadequate blood from the body and then transfusing the strong blood from a hunter had better results. We saved many lives that night.”

  “But the bags and the organ removal?”

  Alpha nodded. “Some lives could not be saved; we harvested the blood an
d organs of the doomed in order to run tests that would further develop our serum. Those who were beyond salvation were given dignified and pain-free endings, just as you gave to the similarly afflicted on the outside. Admittedly, it was quite a macabre scene, which is why I never blamed you for your misunderstanding. But I never dreamed you would be so obtuse as to never let me explain, or that you would abandon Lei as a result.”

  Steve felt a wave of vertigo threaten to overwhelm him and he had to grip the armrests of his chair to keep from swaying.

  “This can’t be true.” Steve muttered miserably.

  Alpha looked stern yet sympathetic as he peered at his former protégé. “I assume my credibility has diminished in your eyes over the years, but you used to know that I do not lie. In any case, if Lei were here instead of in the arms of our enemies she could confirm the truth.”

  Steve remained silent, lost in his own thoughts when Chris said. “Fine then. You can ask her once we get her and the others out of there.”

  Chapter 41

  When the plane arrived an oversized limousine approached the hanger. As it stopped next to the three men the trunk popped open. Alpha didn’t miss a beat loading their gear into the trunk. Steve hesitated briefly, but Chris followed suit and dropped two laptop computers and his rifle case into the trunk then climbed into the rear passenger seating.

  “It seems our friend Chris is very sure of himself in this.” Alpha said to Steve. “How about you?”

  “I’m fine….Let’s go break some of the laws I’m sworn to uphold.”

  Alpha chuckled. “That’s the spirit boy!”

  The limo stopped less than a block from the Pharmanetics building. The three men quickly jumped out and retrieved their gear from the trunk. Chris immediately ran to the nearest manhole cover, dropped a lever into one hole and wrenched the heavy circular cover from the ground. Without missing a beat he covered his boots with plastic garbage bags, tied a strap around his calves and descended into the sewer. Alpha and Steve repeated the process and followed after Chris with Alpha being the last to descend. After Alpha descended a few steps he gripped the manhole cover with one hand by its edge and effortlessly dragged it over his head and back into its resting position.