“You gonna drink all that?” my new friend slurred.
“I suppose I will need help,” I told him. I might as well have said I had a free ticket to heaven, as bright as his face lit up.
We drank and we talked, but I did most of the talking and him most of the drinking. He was too busy trying to drain the bottle to notice that my glass never emptied. When the bottle was empty and he was almost to his goal, I passed my glass to him.
“Here you go, my good friend. You look like you need it more than I do.”
“I wanna thank you for this,” he slurred.
“Don’t mention it.”
“No, I really want to thank you for this. This is the greatest thing a stranger has done for me. I just want you to know I’m really grateful. You must be an angel from God or something.”
Some angel I am. “It’s no problem, really.”
His face grew serious. “No, it is. It is a big deal. Nothing good ever happens anymore.”
“Why is that?”
“I have nothing left. That’s why I drink. Makes the memories go away, at least for a while.”
“Then enjoy your drink, friend.”
Frank took what was left and downed it in one gulp.
“You want to tell me something about yourself?” I asked.
“Nothing much to tell. I was born and raised in a little village some ways south from here, went by the name of Saltpeter.”
“Sounds interesting.” Maybe they actually have guns there.
“It ain’t there no more.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I actually wanted to go visit.”
“Well, you can still go see it. It’s all in ruins. Bunch of corpses walking around.”
“You don’t call them demons?”
“Pshhh! That’s what them folks call them here. I’m not too keen on their religion.”
“Why not? Seems like it’s done nothing but good here.”
He motioned me to come closer. “You wanna know something? This place ain’t the perfect little village it looks like.”
“How so?”
“The rules they got here. They got some strict rules, man. You get caught breaking them, you’re in a world of hurt.”
While it might be true that this place was conservative, no one here seemed to be terribly scarred or disfigured. Then again, we were also in an underground speakeasy that would not exactly earn the approval of the pious townspeople.
“Yeah, if you mess up so many times, they toss you over the fence and feed you to those things out there.”
“You don’t say.”
“I do say. I’m serious. They don’t bother with us folk down here, but they could if they wanted to. As long as we don’t get in the way, we don’t get fed to the wolves. Or the demons, whatever they are. Man, they are just hungry.”
It was obvious he was wasted. I grabbed his arm and got off my stool.
“It is getting late for me. Would you like to walk home?” He nodded and mumbled something. I took it for a yes and we walked out of the bar, although walking was a bit of an exaggeration for him. He staggered out and supported most of his weight on me. The doorman showed us out through a different door.
“Have a good night. Come again soon,” he said. I was sure he was looking forward to good tips, and I might be tempted to sneak here if I really needed a meal. Stray souls were much better than stray animals. We went down the streets with him singing. At this point, it had turned night and we were the only people walking down this street.
“Where do you live, Frank?” I asked.
“Place down the way,” he replied.
“Do you have a family? Where do they live?”
“Out there.”
“Where, outside the city?”
“They’re dead!” he blurted. “Every one of them is dead and walking out there somewhere.”
“I am so sorry. I did not mean to bring that up.”
“You know, I wish I could just walk out there and be with ‘em. That’s all I want is to be with them again. They can make me one of them and we can be together forever.”
“What they are, that’s not living. They’re just shells of who they used to be,” I tried to reason.
“I really tried, Miriam. I really did. They just came on us too fast and got you and the kids. And all I did was run like a coward! A filthy, stupid, stinking coward!”
I seized him and said, “Frank, get a grip on yourself!”
“Huh, what? What’s up with your teeth?”
I closed my mouth. “You really want to see your family?”
“I wanna…what? Yeah, I wanna see ‘em.”
“Come with me. Let’s go get you to your family.”
“Where are we going?”
“To your family. Where’s the quickest way to the wall? We’ll climb our way out.”
“Okay.” Drunkenness has a way to convince you that you are capable of great feats. These were great big walls with smooth surfaces. A sober, agile man could not climb them, but this drunk man thought he was up to the task.
We made our way closer to the wall until I found the small street that divided the last house from the wall. It was time to take my quarry to a discreet place where I could release him from his pain. Truly, I was doing him a favor, and all those around him who might have to put up with him. I stopped at the darkest place in the street, where I could see a little dimly but he could not see at all.
“Why are we stopping here? It’s so dark.”
“I am just getting a quick bite to eat,” I replied, not being able to resist the irony.
“What are you gonna eat? There’s no food here.”
“Oh, yes…there’s food.”
I sank my fangs into his neck before he could ask another question. There was no need for a needle this time. He was going to perish. I drank in big, gluttonous gulps and felt the life drain from him. His blood was burning hot, and not just from the temperature. It was my turn to be intoxicated. He let out a death rattle and went limp. I pulled back as I felt the swoon and laid him down.
The question now was, what to do with him? I looked up at the high wall and knew. It was three stories high and twenty feet thick, with guards patrolling at the top around the clock. Climbing it undetected would be no easy task. I felt very warm and courageous. I was going to climb the wall.
There was a thing I once knew as beer muscles. It referred to those who became stronger in their own mind as they drank more. I always enjoyed watching their illusions shatter, along with a cheekbone or two. Some of the shadier characters ended up becoming a tenderized meal later that night. Tonight, I was experiencing the Vampire equivalent of that. I grabbed the still warm corpse of my victim and jumped up to the roof of an adjacent house. From there, I jumped up to the wall.
I gained purchase on the ledge and held on by one hand, holding on to the corpse with the other. I swung the body onto the ledge and pulled myself up. The guard were gone, at least until their patrols brought them back here.
There was no time to waste. I dragged the remains of my quarry across the breadth of the wall to the opposite ledge. The sight that awaited me below surprised me. It was what looked like a thousand faces pushing and shoving their way to the wall. They scratched at it in the hopes that it would wear down with enough work. My nose also picked up something else. It was the faint smell of blood. Fresh blood. I thought it might have merely been the smell of a recent zombie kill.
“It’s been great, friend,” I said to the body that once belonged to Frank. “Thanks for everything.” Without any further ceremony, I shoved the body off the wall. The mass of undead began to feed on it with that torpid enthusiasm only zombies can muster.
“Hey, you! Who goes there?” My short ceremony had taken too long and the guard was returning. He was holding an oil lamp in his hand that was only slightly better than being in the dark. I leapt off and landed on a roof that crackled, threatening to swallow me. After a few minutes of leaping from roof to roof, I found myself atop
the house of my benefactor. I was panting heavily from my effort, but I was smiling. The effects of drinking Frank’s blood were delightful. It had been a long time since I felt so light and free.
Even with my impaired judgment, I started to realize that perhaps it wouldn’t be the best idea to leave the city and jump into the horde of undead that cordoned the walls. I decided I had an even better idea.
Speaking of bad judgment, I had resolved to give Rhiannon a piece of my mind. She would know that I was not one to fall prey to human charms. I was already forming a speech in my mind, though I would be hard pressed to say what the words were now.
Sneaking back into the house proved effortless. As a veteran hunter, I had mastered the art of stealth. It can take a great deal to sneak up on a human sometimes. I went into the unlocked window leading to my assigned bedroom. My eyes adjusted to the dark and there I found Rhiannon, sleeping on the bed that my host had given me. Alaric was nowhere to be seen. I wondered if he knew where she was or if he was away checking on the guards or attending to some other situation. She had come to lie down on my bed, having guessed that I would come back for my belongings. I felt a sense of indignation at this. My courage seemed to have trebled in size. I was going to give her a piece of my mind.
“Listen, you,” I said. She jerked out of her sleep and gasped. I thought she would scream, but she seemed to know it was me. “I’m just going to tell you something. You’re just going to shut up and listen.”
“You came back. I knew you’d come back.”
“No, I’m not back for good. I’m here to tell you something.”
“What? I don’t care what it is, just that you’re here.”
I opened my mouth and the words did not want to come out. All the brilliance and bravado of alcohol amount to absolutely nothing when push comes to shove. Now I was frustrated. She took advantage of this to reach out and kiss me. I now know it was a terrible idea, but hindsight is 20/20 and I was stark blind at that moment. The passion, fueled by the alcoholic blood in my veins, enveloped me and soon I was pinning her down on the bed. She was beginning to undress me and I was doing the same, reaching for that string in the back that I would pull and loosen the fastenings on the back of her dress.
That was until I felt the sharp pain on my tongue. She only bit for a second, but oh, did it hurt! I don’t know if it was reflex or a bit of playfulness, but she bit down hard and caressed my tongue as if to make it all better, but it only made it burn. I got up from the bed and buttoned up my clothes.
“Where are you going? I thought this was what you wanted.”
“It is a mistake and you know it.”
“No, it’s not. I don’t love him. I love you. Be with me. Or take me with you. We’ll run away together.”
I’m not sure if it was intuition or her blood boiling within me, but I knew that to be a lie. She may not have loved him, but as far as loving me, I knew that I was a passing fancy from a girl that was barely a woman.
“Goodbye,” I replied.
“No, don’t leave me!” she screamed. It was time to make an exit post haste, before Alaric or any of the help showed up to check on her. I came out of the window and climbed back onto the roof. Her screams ripped through the night air and sent pinpricks up and down my spine.
There was one silver lining to all this commotion. Because of her screaming, she had provided a diversion that allowed me to sneak out of the place with little notice. It had been nice while it lasted, but I had worn out my welcome in this place. I had my fill of life-giving blood—and insanity. Of the former, I might have enough to last a few days. As for the latter, I had enough to last me another century. Had I not needed their blood to survive, I could have done without seeing another human for an aeon.
Now that I had managed to completely muck things up, I leapt away into the night. I never got the chance to say goodbye to Alaric, or thank him for his hospitality. It was probably for the best. He would eventually learn his wife’s true feelings, but it would not be from me.
The wall was much easier to scale this time. As intoxicating and delightful as the alcohol-tainted blood had been, it did not last long. My system was already hard at work detoxifying itself. This time, I did not care about the guards and climbed straight up the wall like a lizard. Sure enough, they were at their posts, but my presence went unnoticed. The focus of attention was at ground level. I looked to see what was holding their attention.
My jaw went slack when I saw it. Hundreds of undead gathered at the entrance, clamoring for admission to the feast. They had somehow gained access to the first set of gates and were fighting with the second one. The heavy iron gate creaked and groaned from the pressure of their collective strength pushing and pulling against it. I had seen this before, during the Fall, but never this intense. The mass of bodies acted with untiring, single-minded purpose and seemed to be working in synergy, something I had never before seen.
“Hey, you! How long have they been here?” I asked the guard. He seemed to start for a moment before redirecting his attention back to the ground.
“Sometime after dusk. They came in a mob, at the tails of our hunters, almost biting at their heels. We tried our best to save them, but they forced their way through the outer gate and attacked them. There is nothing we can do for them now.”
I looked at his crossbow. “Didn’t you shoot them?”
“I did—we all have. Everyone’s run out of bolts.” It struck me how casual his tone of voice was. Not once did he ask me who I was or what I was doing up there. He could just as well have been reading from a dictionary, reciting every word with an even, monotone drawl that unnerved me more than the mob of ravenous zombies below.
The sound of grinding metal continued, but my ears picked up on the subtle change. I peeked over the edge at the door below and saw that the fasteners were stretching. Orange dust poured out of the holes with every shake and rattle. The gate would not hold for long, and I pitied the soldiers below when it did give out.
“Aren’t you going to do anything besides stand there and watch them take the town?”
“There’s nothing else to do. If they take down that gate, we are done for. There will be no town left. We don’t have enough people to take them.”
I clenched my fists in frustration. Impotence was not a feeling I handled well. I looked around the wall and the soldiers at either side of me. The other soldier had a saber in a scabbard clipped to his belt.
“I’m taking this,” I said to him. He started to protest, but before the words could come out, I took a running start and pounced on the crowd below. The mob did not know what hit them.
For the sake of brevity and to spare your stomach, I will gloss over the gorier details. It should go without saying that many heads rolled that night. If humans were fast compared to them, I was a flash of lightning, hacking off heads and limbs before they even realized it. I fought, hacked, and slashed my way through the undead ranks until I reached the very chamber where I had almost met my demise. Knee-deep in their bodies, I pushed back at the rest of the mob and closed the gate on them. As I walked back to the inner gate, a hand reached out to my leg. My saber darted out and pierced through the skull of the owner of that arm. It twitched and went limp.
“Let me in!” I shouted to the guards. They stared at me in horror and held their positions. “The gate is closed and you’re safe. I said, let me in this instant!” They continued to look at me with that fearful, mystified look. I felt the rage surge through my brain and everything I saw was tinted bloody red. My body took on a life of its own and reduced me to a mere spectator. The saber dropped out of my hand and I rushed out at the gate. The rivets popped loose as I pulled apart the strips of metal. When the hole was large enough for me to fit, I pulled myself through. Now everything began to go in extreme slow motion for me, even if it was real time for everyone else. My ears registered the click of the crossbows. I could see them oscillate as they shot out. Some I dodged and others I deflected with my hands.
Just for show, I caught the last one and broke it in half. I stared and growled. All of them gasped and took a step back. Only one person stepped forward. It was Alaric.
“Stand down, everyone!” he commanded, but there was no need. After my performance, they had all lowered their weapons. Do not think I am complaining, because I am not, but I wondered where all the guns were. I thought about asking Alaric, but it was neither the time nor the place, and I had run out of alcohol to excuse my indiscretions.
“What did you do?” he asked. Alaric may have been walking and talking, but he looked just as dazed as all the others. Of all the questions he could ask, he settled on asking the most idiotic one. Has everyone lost their mind? I wondered, and turned around to look back at the wrecked gate. There was a gaping hole in the center, with strips of metal flowering out in every direction. It looked like it had been struck by artillery. Bodies inside were piled about two feet high. I saw something stir and seized one of the guard’s crossbow. Before anyone realized what was happening, it was in my hand. This crossbow that a grown man strained to pull back with both hands I loaded with one single finger.
I pulled the trigger and sent a bolt flying through a gap. The bolt punched a hole in the newly undead man’s skull, right next to the other bolt that protruded from his eye. He let out a croaking breath and went back down.
“Where are you standing right now?” I asked him.
He looked around and gave me a mystified look. “I…am standing right here, as you can plainly see.”
I just smiled. Two can play at this game.
“So you are. You and the rest of your men stand right here at the gates and not fighting or retreating. None of you are hiding underground, are you?” They seemed to break out of their trance and exchanged whispers of agreement.
“We stand right here before you, safe and unharmed,” Alaric replied. “All because of you.”
“That is the answer to your question.”
“You truly are an angel sent from God,” he said as he took a knee. I thought nothing could shock me anymore, but I was wrong yet again.
Investigation
After the Fall Page 5