After the Fall

by Martinez, A. J.

  I walked downstairs and found Rhiannon sitting in the living room with a vacant expression on her face. She looked peaked and sullen.

  “Good…evening,” I said to her. She didn’t reply. “How are you feeling?”

  She replied this time, but only with a grunt, deigning to look at me for a moment before returning to her vacant stare.

  “I heard the news…congratulations.”

  She closed her eyes and recoiled as if she’d been slapped. “Yes. Thank you.”

  “How long have you known?”

  “Not long, but the doctor examined me and I have all the symptoms.”

  “You must be very happy. I know Alaric is.”

  “Yes, he must be overjoyed,” she replied. Her voice was dead, devoid of all feeling. “His blood will live on. Long live the great Alaric.”

  “What is bothering you?”

  “Nothing. I am just fine.”

  I’ve been alive long enough to know that those words mean completely the opposite from what they say.

  “I want you to stop pretending everything is okay and tell me what’s bothering you.”

  “Or you can go back to those whores of yours and leave me alone.”

  Ouch. That shouldn’t have hurt, but it did. It cut all the way to the core. I didn’t reply, though; I just nodded and left the room.

  I had an idea about how to track Alaric’s son. It was a long shot, but then again, life was full of those nowadays. I’ll never claim to be a bloodhound, but I can play one if I put my mind (or my nose) to it.

  “I hope as hell this works,” I said, letting my keen sense of smell guide me out of the house.

  It’s hard to explain how this works. My subconscious mind does most of the thinking. All I can do is trust it and follow where it leads. It could lead to Matthias, or it could lead to some other sweaty guy with bad body odor. And what if he’d taken a shower and rid himself of the smell? Then all this would be a waste of time. Despite all my doubts, I pushed on.

  My tracking led me out the walls and to the open fields that lay without. The guards made cursory note of my passing and went back to their duties. If Alaric was looking for me, they would be able to account for my whereabouts. I could see the patches of forest out in the distance. As a hunter, this would be where he was going. No such thing, my mind told me. He bypassed the woods and went beyond, using a path that had become fairly worn with regular use. I made a beeline for the path. Thanks to my regular supply of blood, I could run as fast as a car in this terrain. At this rate, I should be able to catch up with him soon, as long as I was going in the right direction.

  The path led to a town about the size of Jericho. There were few buildings in any kind of habitable condition. Postmodern construction was simply not the wonder it had been made out to be. It was just about making as many buildings as cheaply as possible, without any regard to durability.

  After the Fall, Mother Nature had resolved to reclaim her territory. Weeds were sprawling out of every crack and crevice, which had become wide chasms in several places. The road itself looked like a map of sorts, with crooked lines of green going in every direction. All that growth attracted grazers, which in turn would attract predators. I saw a doe and two of her fawns take off at the sight of me. They may have never seen a human in their lifetime, but they recognized a predator when they saw one.

  I walked around without aim or purpose, searching for Matthias and wondering what he would be doing in this town. The stores were all broken into and looted. Grocery stores and pharmacies were the worst hit, but general shops and hardware stores took their fair share of ransacking. I noticed few shriveled bodies or bones. Predators must have been doing Mother Nature’s bidding by helping dispose of them.

  The walk around town proved an interesting tour, but I had become weary of it and Matthias’ trail was lost long before. I had been tracking him all night and the sky to the east was taking on lighter shades. That was my cue to get moving. I took off on a dead sprint when something stopped me in my tracks. It was hard to say what made me stop so suddenly, but I realized I had picked up a trace of his scent again. My vision exploded and I saw every movement of the branches, every blade of grass swaying back and forth with the smallest gust of wind. A bundle of something rested atop a thick branch on the tree. It looked like part of the tree, it blended so well. Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was a sort of ghillie suit.

  Something else caught my eye. I spotted a buck in the distance. He wasn’t as large as the deer of times past, when hunters would feed them to take down a bigger trophy, but he was impressive nonetheless. The figure in the tree moved and I saw the outline of a rifle that was also camouflaged. Apparently, so did the buck, as he sniffed at the air and grunted before taking off on a dead sprint.

  I made a split-second decision, which was all the time I had anyway. This thing was fast, which was probably how it had survived all this time. Not fast enough to outrun me, though. I caught up to it some distance away and tackled it to the ground. He put up a fight, but it was not enough to overcome my grip. I searched his jugular vein and rammed my fangs right into the site. The arterial outflow was rich and powerful from the struggle. It wasn’t human blood, but it had a gamey flavor that had a merit of its own. He continued to kick and thrash until his strength flagged and he went still. I did the best I could to wipe the blood off me and picked up the trophy to take to the hunter.

  The figure had descended from the tree and was hard at work tracking the creature when we ran into one another. He almost fell over from the shock of seeing me with a buck in my arms, but apparently not enough to run away screaming. My offering was enticing enough to keep him there. He pulled back his head and revealed a face hidden in camouflage paint.

  “Matthias,” I said to him.

  “Mordecai.”

  His hair was filthy, with shocks of hair clumped together by mud. There wasn’t a bit of his face that wasn’t covered with paint. It was a wonder I had picked up his scent with the smell of ammonia about him. He might have thought it was deer urine, but he was only fooling himself. I set the deer before him as an offering. He gave me the most curious smile and began to look around.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked.

  I heard it before I saw it. There must have been hundreds of them coming this way. They were covered in dried mud and dirt, which gave them some camouflage of their own. The figures, walked, limped, or hobbled their way over here, moving any way they could to get to us.

  “Matthias, you need to run. Now.”

  I wasn’t even done with my sentence when he was gone. For whatever reason, I stood there for a few more seconds and watched their plodding advance. There were more coming up behind them, definitely more than I could dispatch with the daggers I had brought. I made a dismissive gesture at the deer corpse and ran.

  Matthias seemed to have disappeared, but I looked to the trees above and saw the lump perched high above. He was invisible to all but my discerning eye, and the smell of whatever he had been writhing in masked his own scent. I knew he meant to stay there.

  “Let’s go! You can’t stay here, Matthias,” I shouted up at the treetops. The figure moved slightly.

  “I’m staying,” was his muffled reply.

  “There’s too many of them. You might be trapped up there.”

  “I’ll be fine. I have been every other time.”

  “Just like the time when you hurt yourself and I had to save you?”

  He gave me a dirty look I could see even through his disguise. The advancing horde had encircled the deer and begun to feed. Others tried to join in, but the meat wouldn’t last much longer. I scaled the tree with the ease of a chimpanzee. About halfway up, I heard the click of his weapon. The spent cartridge tumbled to the ground below. Now he was aiming the weapon at me.

  “I’m not leaving,” he said. His tone of voice was firm and determined, his eyes chilling. If I were a human, I would rather face the horde than this young man. I struggled w
ith the decision to leave him to certain death or risk being shot. A headshot is not something from which I could easily recover. It was worth the risk, at least that’s what I told myself. I used my blinding speed to close the distance. That was when I heard the shot. I was just a short distance when I heard it. The punch of the bullet was heavy and crippling. My hands lost their grip on the bark and I hurtled to the ground below. I hit so hard it felt like it rose up to meet me. The fall should have knocked me unconscious, but it didn’t. I knew I was hit somewhere vital, but not vital enough to kill me straight away. Matthias was still at the top of the tree, his eyes unchanged. There was a sound of mixed moaning and ragged screams in the distance. The horde, attracted by the sound of the gunshot, was coming in this direction. My strength was fading and I knew I would go out soon. There was no chance to get up and run, much less fight them off. They were going to consume me. I went unconscious with the knowledge that I was done for.

  It’s all over. This is how it ends.

  The Decline of the Savior

  The undead continued their march until they were right up on me. I could see them crouching upon me, sniffing at their food. Even though I could not feel anything, I knew they were feeding on me. Now I would get the answer to my question, but this was not the way I wanted to find out. If I was changed into one of them, would my blood change something in them as well? Perhaps these zombies would prey upon their own kind, creating a kind of super-weapon that could destroy the undead scourge once and for all. This was a pipe dream, of course, and it did nothing to quiet the fear and panic that exploded within me. All these years I had flaunted death and now that it was right at my doorstep, I revert back to fear. So stupid!

  I opened my eyes to the darkness of night and a concert of nocturnal creatures chirping. It was dark, much more than normal. I realized I was still wearing my sunglasses. The skin on the lower half of my face burned and felt tender to the touch. Now I was worried it was the fever. I touched my neck to confirm and it felt cool to the touch.

  So what was happening to me?

  There were no bites anywhere on my body. There was only one small circular hole in my shirt that was far too small to be a bite. It must have been where the bullet entered. I felt another larger hole in the back of my shirt that must have been the exit wound. Both wounds were healed but the entry wound felt the same way as my face. Now I realized what it was: sunburn.

  I let out a growl into the night that quieted some of the other nocturnal creatures for a few seconds. My hat had fallen off my head and landed some distance from me. The horde had trampled it in passing, but it was none the worse for the wear. I put it back on and let out another growl. The little creatures of the night took a shorter pause before resuming their symphony.

  Matthias had shot me. The little weasel shot me when I was trying to help. What surprised me was that he didn’t do anything else. Did he watch me in excitement, waiting for the undead to devour me, only to find that they had no interest in me? No matter. He was going to pay.

  Luckily, I still remembered the way I had come and set off on a full trot. There was a straggler limping and moaning on the trail. I took out my dagger and swung so hard it nearly decapitated him. His head slumped forward, hanging on a bit of flesh. The thing tripped forward and fell on its own head. I was at a full trot at this point. More of them began to appear and I realized I was catching up to the rear of the horde. I began to take heads but at some point, I realized there were too many and I would be there all night. I needed a sword or an axe.

  The horde was already gathered at the walls when I arrived. We weren’t even able to make our improvements before we were besieged once again. I plowed my way through the ranks of the undead.

  The guards must have seen me as some fast undead cutting through the crowd and vaulting to the wall. I stood face to face with one of them and he pointed a crossbow at me in response.

  “If you’re going to do it, do it right,” I said. “Otherwise, I’m coming for you.”

  The man let his hand off the trigger and gave me a nod before returning to his duties. I leaped off the wall and headed to Alaric’s house. For his sake, Matthias had better be far from there.

  I burst through the front door door and tramped around the house in search of the runt. If I had him, he had only a short time to live. Evelyn and Magda came out to see who was there. They must have seen my expression, because they cowered behind a wall and watched me without saying a word.

  “Mordecai!” shouted a voice from the top floor. I expected it to be Alaric, but I got Rhiannon instead. The dress she wore made her look like she was farther into her pregnancy. There was none of the radiance that is normally associated with that state. She looked pale and haggard. Dark circles ringed her eyes and what little color had been on her skin was gone.

  “Rhiannon. How are you feeling?”

  “Why are you worried about it?”

  “Because you don’t look well.”

  She scoffed. “And is it any of your business?” I shook my head. “Why don’t you go love on those two young whores and stop worrying about me?”

  Now it was my turn to feel indignant. I tried to push that aside and get back to the original subject. “Have you seen Alaric…or maybe Matthias?”

  “I haven’t seen either of them all day.” Her eye twitched slightly, betraying the anger beneath the surface.

  I decided to leap to the second floor, putting myself eye to eye with her. The jump was quite a surprise, but we also ended up almost at kissing distance. She gasped. I took a small breath and inhaled her scent. It was no longer that fresh, angelic smell. Her skin had lost its youthful gloss and smelled…it smelled of death. She wasn’t with child…she was dying.

  “Are you just going to just stand there all night?”

  “No. I just need to have a word with Alaric.”

  “You said Matthias, too. What do you want with my stepson?”

  There was a surprise. Now he was her stepson. “I’d like to have a word with either one of them, that’s all.”

  “Why can’t you just tell me?” She crossed her arms and gave me a pointed look. I leaned in a little closer and she gasped again. Her stalwart resolve melted like an ice castle in the middle of summer.

  “I really didn’t want to bother you in your…in your condition.”

  Her heart began to beat faster. The smell of life began to flow out of her pores. She began to breathe at a quicker pace, but her heart started palpitating and she swooned. I caught her midair and walked her to her bed, where I laid her down. Her hair had fallen over her face. I smoothed it over with my hand and beheld her pallid marble face. She was like a statue, with a barely noticeable rise and fall of her chest.

  “Mordecai.” I turned round to see Alaric standing there. “What’s the matter?”

  “She fainted. I’m not sure why.”

  He rushed over to the bed and shoved me aside without realizing it. I took no offense to it. In his place, I would have done the very same thing. Well, maybe not the same or he would have gone through the wall, but you get the point.

  “What is wrong with her?” he asked as he examined her. He put one ear to her chest and listened. “I can’t hear her breathing.”

  “Oh, she’s breathing,” I said. As far as to what was wrong with her, I didn’t dare tell him my suspicions.

  “But I can’t hear it. What happened?”

  “We were speaking and she fainted. I brought her to bed just now.”

  “I must get a doctor,” he said, darting out of the room, leaving me alone with her. The little bit of sweet scent that had come out of her pores was gone now. That damned smell of decay was back, like her own body was consuming itself. My hand unconsciously went to my tongue and felt the spot where she had bitten me.

  Oh, no.

  “Please don’t let it be that,” I implored to the air. Too many times I had seen this. Far too many to count. A careless bite broke the gums, let out a bit of blood, or maybe it happ
ened in the struggle. She had been poisoned by just a bit of my blood. It was enough to cause death without the revival. If I was right, she only had a few days to live.

  I paced the room while I waited for Alaric to return with the doctor. The front door opened and I heard them stomping upstairs. Alaric was first through the door, followed by the same old man who had tended to me through what I thought was the end of my long unlife.

  “How is she?” asked the old man. He sat on the bedside and put on a well-worn stethoscope. After listening for a few seconds, he produced another equally shabby blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around her arm. “Her pulse is weak and blood pressure is low. Has she eaten much?”

  “She hasn’t been able to keep a bite in her stomach,” Alaric replied.

  “Why didn’t you call me before? This is not something to trifle with. She’s pregnant, and she could miscarry if she’s allowed to go on like this.”

  “Yes, doctor.” Alaric looked down. He was contrite, but mostly worried for his wife and what he thought to be his child. “She has not slept much, either,” he added.

  “Why didn’t you send for me? I would have liked to have known this much sooner than now!”

  “You said this was normal,” Alaric defended.

  “Yes, but not if it happens constantly!” He took out a needle and intravenous hose almost identical to mine.”

  “What is your blood type, son?” he asked me.

  “No, you don’t want my blood,” I said, instinctively covering my arm.

  “Why not? What is your blood type?”

  “AB positive,” I said, taking a stab in the dark.

  “Ah. She’s A positive. Good for you, son. Your blood is only good for a few people, but you can get blood from anyone. We used to joke and call you guys ‘the universal vampires.’” He let out a wheezing chuckle. Alaric couldn’t help but join in. I laughed, but only at the irony.

  “Very well. That’s out of the question. I might have to bring in one of the people I’ve already typed. I know Matthias is O negative. Where is he?”