by I. J. Smith
She walked away to leave; glancing back only once as to see Tate being dragged away by the guards. With a smile, she left.
As Tate was dragged back to an isolation unit, with his cuffs still on; they threw him to the ground. Each guard taking turns on kicking him. They slammed the door shut, locking it behind them, and turning the lights off, and leaving him in the darkness. As he lay there, Tate began to foam at the mouth and shake all over.
Outside, Abigail approached her driver. He opened the door for her. “We’re on; send the extraction team once death is confirmed.” She informed the driver.
CHAPTER FOUR
DEAD
A guard dressed in white, ran in a panic down the corridor. Without knocking or a warning he threw open the door of Doctor Taylor’s office.
“He’s dead, Sir!”
Taylor launched like a rocket from his chair. “What?”
“Litchfield, he is dead!”
Taylor rushed from his desk and ran down the corridor towards the solitary unit; Tate was being held in. Two more guards stood by the door looking inside.
“What the hell have you done?” Taylor demanded to know, as he reached the door.
Looking inside he was struck with fear; he knew of the recent visit, and now this death would cause problems. He walked in and knelt by the body, blood was coming from Tate’s nose. A guard walked in behind Taylor. “What the hell did you do?” Taylor asked.
The guard lowered his head and shook it.
“WHAT HAPPENED?” Taylor yelled.
The guard replied, “He killed two of our own; he was an animal!” Pausing for a moment, he continued; “We barely touched him. No one will miss him anyway!”
Taylor stood up. “What about the Lady, who was just here?”
The guard looked around, lost for words. Taylor walked towards him. “Alright, get the body down to the morgue. Waste no time, I will talk to the examiner immediately.”
“Yes Sir!” The guard replied.
As Taylor rushed back to this office, the guards dragged Tate’s dead body from the unit; down towards the morgue. In his office, Taylor grabbed the phone on his desk, pressing the button for the morgue. As he waited for an answer, he grew impatient; punching the table several times in anger.
Finally, there was an answer. “Morgue!” A blunt voice answered.
“Doctor Thomas! There is a body coming down there, right now! He had a heart attack and needs to be cremated immediately!” Taylor told him.
An echo of laughter came from the phone. “Well, once I do an autopsy….” He was saying; when suddenly Taylor stopped him. “Let me make it very clear! It was a heart attack and he will be cremated as soon as possible. Or should I ask your wife if she knows about your extracurricular activities?”
On the phone, there was a long pause. “The furnace will take till morning to bring up to temperature. But I can get the paperwork done now. Funny things hearts; they can give out without any warning.” Doctor Thomas replied.
“Happy we can agree!” Taylor said before putting the phone down.
He took a moment for a deep breath, before walking over to the CCTV control, where he began deleting the night’s footage. “Seems we have a technical malfunction too.” He muttered to himself.
∞
The flames burned in the large metallic furnace, a gauge showing the temperature rising as it got hotter. A tall, long-haired, fat man walked around the furnace; he approached the table where Tate was lying. He looked at the young man; his skin was cold to the touch and had turned pale already. The fat man shook his head as he unlocked the wheels on the table, and began to push it towards the furnace. He moved to open the door of the furnace, when suddenly; all the lights went out in the morgue. Only the flames from the furnace flickering any light into the room.
“This fucking building is falling apart!” He said to himself.
As he approached the phone on the wall, he felt someone grab him from behind, and cover his mouth and nose. His eyes grew heavy, his vision blurring as he fell to the ground; only catching a glimpse of a large figure dressed in black.
The man was dressed in pure black, wearing a balaclava. A male voice suddenly spoke, as he turned around. “Quickly, there is not much time!”
Two others, also dressed in black were placing Tate into a body bag. A third person rushed to the exit door, by which they had gained access, and pulled inside another heavy body bag. Pulling Tate’s body bag down, they laid him on the floor. Unzipping the other one, revealing a young man, very similar to Tate’s size, they pulled him up and onto the table, to replace Tate. With the furnace doors still open, they pushed the body inside and quickly closed the doors.
The smell of burning flesh flooded the room, it was like burnt roast beef. “Thirty seconds!” A male voice announced. The three of them picked up Tate and made their escape through the exit door.
∞
Two days later….
Abigail stood in a dark room; she was looking at a large monitor on the wall. A door opened and in walked a large older man, with a bald shining head; it was Abigail’s father. Behind him was another man dressed in pure black; a tall, short haired man, who had a gun strapped to his leg.
“Damn Damian, I don’t think you need that in here!” Abigail says.
Her father looked and chuckled. “Abi, give Damian a break.”
“It’s OK Mr. Conner,” Damian replied.
Abigail laughed aloud, “Mr. Conner! Call him Frank like everyone else.”
Frank looked up and smiled. “As usual my daughter is right, call me Frank. Now let us see the new recruits, shall we?”
Abigail held a small grey box with a red button on it, in her hand. “Let’s get this started!” She said as she pressed the button; all three of them settled in to watch the show.
In a large, pure white room sat a black table. On the table, weapons of choice were laid out. Two black 9mm guns, a sword, a meat cleaver, an axe, two knives, a hammer, and a pair of silver knuckle dusters. The walls around the room were smooth, four doors with no visible handles. There were two lights above each door, one red and one green. Only the red was lit. On the smooth white floor were seven bodies. A gas began to flow up through the vents on the floor. It quickly smothered the bodies. It took only a few moments for the bodies to shake and convulse.
All the bodies were dressed in white vests and shorts. Three women and four men, all started to move around on the floor. A red-headed woman began coughing, as she struggled to breathe. A bald, muscular man with tattoos all over his face gave out a roar as he rushed to his feet in a panic. A dark-haired woman had pushed herself into a corner of the room with her head resting on her knees. The third woman still lay on the ground, her eyes were open but she did not move. She was a tall woman with long blue hair. She looked up as the tattooed man approached her.
“Hello beautiful,” he said as he stood over her.
She focused her eyes on him and like a flash kicked up her foot into his jaw. The shock threw him back and he fell to the ground. The blue haired woman stood up, “My name is Kate.” She said sternly.
The tattooed man struggled to lift his head up. “I’m Rico! Nice to meet you!” He said while giving her a little wave.
The red-headed woman had finally stopped coughing and was on her feet, she approached Kate. “I’m Emily and that was fucking awesome!” She said, with excitement.
A short curly haired man wearing black rimmed glasses introduced himself to the others. “Ambrose!”
“What?” A second man asked. Ambrose turned to looked towards a very obese; man struggling to his feet. The large man used the wall to steady himself as he tried to stand.
“My name, it is Ambrose.” He replied.
“What like the custard?” Ambrose looked at the man, his stomach was showing as it hung from his vest. The fat arm bulged, he also noticed that barely any skin on him was not covered in a stretch-mark.
“And your name?” Ambrose asked.
“They call me Steady Eddie,” He said with a laugh.
The blue-haired Kate walked to the table in the middle of the room. Ambrose followed by Eddie, and the others joined her. Rico picked up a gun, “What the fuck is this for?” He asked.
Then another voice spoke in the room, one not heard before. “It’s for killing!”
Everyone looked around, and was stunned by a man sitting in the corner; his hair was long and dirty with a matching beard. They all looked into his dark dead eyes, they all felt a sudden shudder of fear as he looked back at them.
Stepping forward, Ambrose approached the man. Rico grabbed his arm, “Don’t, he has the look of crazy all over him!”
The man in the corner stood up, revealing his toned arms that were covered in bruises. They all watched as the man walked slowly towards them. “The gun is for killing!” The man said again.
Ambrose stood in-front of the large man, he looked at the man’s large biceps before asking, “Your name?”
The man looked Ambrose in the eyes, watching as he took a deep swallow. With a hint of a smile he uttered one word. “Tate.”
A silence took over the room, everyone looking at each other. Rico walked around the room touching the walls. He tried to move behind Tate, but Tate moved fast. With his back against the wall he looked at each of the others in turn.
“It’s OK brother, we all in the same shit here!” Rico said, trying to calm Tate.
Ambrose approached Tate, “Looks like we all signed up.” Tate gave a slight nod of his head; his trust in anyone was non-existent.
Suddenly there was a loud a female voice echoing around the room. “Abigail” Tate muttered. Ambrose looked at him. Abigail continued to talk.
“Welcome to the test. You have all been given the opportunity to acquire a new life.” There was a long pause. “On the table is an assortment of weapons, you have sixty seconds to choose.”
“Sixty seconds?” the third unknown woman spoke in a panic.
Tate glanced at the woman as she panicked, the others all rushed to the table; grabbing the first weapons that came to hand without any thought.
“Hey man, you want one?” Rico asked Tate as he held a gun out.
Looking at the ivory handle of the silver 9mm, Tate gave another hint of a smile. “I don’t need it!” He said as he walked away. Rico watched as Tate calmly sat back down in the corner of the room.
“Man, come on. You need a weapon,” Rico continued.
“Why? Whatever this test is, I don’t give a shit.”
They all looked at Tate as he rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes.
A loud buzzer echoed around the room. The lights above the three doors turned from red to green, sliding open as someone stepped forward into the white room. Now in complete silence you could hear the heavy breathing that turned into a repeated grunt. Three men came into focus from the doors - they were the ones grunting. All three were dressed in black overalls. The middle man stepped forward, there was no hair on his face; no stubble or eyebrows. His eyes seemed more open, wider than usual. He smiled wide to reveal two long fangs, with a mighty roar he rushed at the third unknown woman.
Everyone stood in shock and watched as the woman screamed for help. The hairless man sank his fangs into her neck as she struggled to get away. He gave out another roar and threw the woman against the wall, her head cracked open like a melon dropping from a great height. Blood covered the wall, her now headless corpse hit the floor hard.
“What the fuck is that?” Rico screamed out.
The two other hairless men showed their fangs and roared as they stepped forward, Rico quickly stared to fire the gun. The bullets hit the men, pushing them back a little, but not killing them. All three smiled as they came forward again.
Kate began screaming. “Let us out!”
Emily held a long sword in her hand. “Come on you fuckers!”
Ambrose stood in shock, shaking in fear.
The fat-man, Steady Eddie, grabbed the meat cleaver from the table. Then one of the hairless men spoke. “I like them big!” He spoke with a rusty voice. He jumped over the table. The man swiped his barehand through the air so fast, no one could see it. The meat cleaver dropped to the ground quickly followed by blood, intestines and internal body parts. Eddie stared at the fangs before he dropped. The hairless man dropped on top of Eddie and began tearing at his flesh and drinking his blood.
Rico, Emily, Kate, and Ambrose backed off into a far corner of the room. They watched as Eddie was ravaged.
“What are you?” The blue haired Kate asked.
“They’re vampires.” A voice said.
Kate looked at the three men, none of them had answered. She looked to the direction of the voice. Tate was now standing; he was focused on the three Vamps. Ambrose noticed Tate was now clutching the silver knuckledusters.
The three Vampires turned to face Tate. There was no fear as Tate stepped forward. “I have been waiting a long time for this moment.” One of the Vamps roared as he rushed at Tate.
Emily closed her eyes, not wanting to see.
Tate punched the beast straight in the throat. Blood spewed from his mouth. Tate gave an uppercut to his jaw, sending the vamp up and then down to hit the ground. Within half a second Tate was on top of the vamp, punching with ferocity into his head. Aided with the silver knuckleduster’s Tate made quick work of destroying the head of the vamp. The sound of cracking bones made Tate smile. The blood sprayed all over him, he was smothered. Finally, Tate stopped. He looked at the mess he had made. Bone and brain matter covered the floor, he had completely destroyed the head.
With a look of anger, Tate snarled as he looked up at the two other vampires. “So, who’s next?” Tate asked.
Another vamp rushed at him. Tate was fast to his feet, but was thrown against the wall. Without warning the screams echoed. The vamp turned to see the others rushing at them. They forced the vamp against the wall. It took their combined strength to hold it there.
“Now what?” Rico asked.
“Well, destroying the head work on the other one.” Ambrose replied.
The third vamp approached them. Kate glanced just in time to see Tate throw himself at it. Rico grabbed the sword from Kate and raised the blade to the Vamp’s neck. “Hold him!” Rico told them. He forced the blade through its neck, severing it from the body. Blood once again sprayed over them all. As the head dropped to the floor, Emily screamed and began to stamp on it. The Vampire head crumbled under the pressure of her foot. “DIE! DIE! DIE!” She screamed out.
Ambrose grabbed her hand. “I think you got it!” She looked down to see her foot covered in blood.
“Kick his ass!” Rico shouted to Tate.
They all watched as Tate stood toe to toe with the vampire. They noticed how strong Tate was, he matched the Vampire punch for punch. Tate kicked it in the stomach to send it falling back. He pounced onto the vampire and once again started to punch it in the head. He focused his punch into the side of its head and with one more ferocious punch his hand went straight through its head. Even as it dropped to the ground, Tate carried on punching until a hand touched his shoulder. Tate jumped to his feet holding his fists up, ready to fight. He was met with the sight of a red headed woman.
Tate lowered his fists. He looked at Kate and muttered, “Nice foot.” She glanced down and smiled.
Abigail’s voice echoed again. “Congratulations, test one is complete.”
CHAPTER FIVE
RISING
Heavy rain fell from the cloudy night sky. Along a country road, only the moonlight lit the way. The muddy road was surrounded by large overgrown bushes. Through the darkness, two bright lights appeared. A large black Mercedes drove at speed down the dangerous road. As it drove, muddy puddles formed, splashing over the bushes.
The car came to a stop outside an old brick building surrounded by trees and overgrown grass, making it almost invisible. It could easily be passed without anyone seeing it. A man stepped
out from the car, he stood tall with his chin long and pointed. Looking up at the building; a flash of lightning lit up the sky, illuminating a large cross that stood on the roof. The light lasted long enough to reveal a name carved into the brickwork above the large black door.
“Whiting Holy Church,” The tall man muttered to himself; as he read the name of the church. “What a shit-hole!” He continued.
He glanced around at the gloomy settings. He sneered as he strolled towards the large black doors of the church. Without knocking he took a grip of the large metal handle and turned it, a mighty clank echoed out, the door squeaked as he pushed it open.
“That needs some oil!”
He walked inside to a large stone hall, a table sat against the wall. Candles were scattered all over, to light the way, the wax remains of previous candles were just left on the side. He heard a thumping beat behind a set of red velvet curtains. As he pulled the curtain open, the thumping sound turned into a rhythm. Sounds of laughter and shouting echoed around the large room that stood in front of him. The light of hundreds of candles and lanterns lit the room up.
He looked around the large room, once it was a church. Now it was havoc, graffiti covered the walls. The pews were destroyed, sofas and mattresses were scattered around the room. All the stained-glass windows were painted over with thick black tar.
Walking in, a large man appeared in front of him. He looked at the hairless, black-eyed beast that stood in from of him.
“Out of my way, half-breed!” The man said through gritted teeth.
The half-breed stared at him. Looking deep into its wide-spread, deep black eyes, the man stepped towards it. “Move!” The half-breed stepped aside.
As the man walked away; he heard it grumble. “Fucking Human!”
The loud music continued to play as he stepped over the rubbish that covered the floor. Male and female hairless half-breeds looked at him with a sneer. He approached a large red leather sofa, where a woman noticed him and stood to greet him.