Xairin increased his tone. “There are other ways to feed!”
The kid screamed in the vampiric roar. His meek and childlike voice became monstrous. “I”M HUNGRY. I’M HUNGRY, “I’M HUNGRY!!”
Tommy fought against Xairin’s grip. Holding the wild vamp was like trying to baptize a cat. Xairin felt the boy clawing at his arms, trying to get himself free so that he could eat the woman cowering by the rusted out dumpster. “Calm down. Come on kid calm down!”
Xairin realized he couldn’t hold the kid for long. He looked at the woman. “RUN!”
She was too terrified to move. Even with Xairin speaking to her, she couldn’t comprehend due to the panic. Her fight or flight response had failed and become the feeling of helpless fear, it had her slumped over, overtaken by fear for the time being.
Xairin had no choice but to toss the kid a few feet away.
The kid landed on all fours and turned around in the blink of an eye. His red eyes seemed to glow a little.
As for Xairin, he didn’t want to hurt Tommy. Hurting a child was one thing Xairin couldn’t tolerate after making friends in foster care. Also being a vampire lost in the grips of blood fever, haunted Xairin’s mind. What if it was two kids, and not those two murderers? He thought. He couldn’t allow himself to ever have blood fever again.. He couldn’t live with himself if he fed on an innocent, especially a kid. Now he was faced with a starving vampiric child, foaming at the mouth, ready to pounce on someone that appeared to be innocent.
Xairin decided to try something. He was once a sensitive and he knew those genes had been heightened by the vampire bat’s bite. He had never tried to control someone in the past intentionally, only a few accidents over the years. He knew the basics in how to do it, now he just hoped that his vampiric condition allowed him a better control over the abilities he shunned. He had to try and see if he could control the child. It was his best option.
Xairin’s own eyes seemed to flicker in the dark of the alley. He felt the vibration between his eyes as his brain waves reverberated outward. As for Tommy, he was preparing to pounce on Anna again with a predatory pose prepping his attack. His eyes were locked on her. The kid was nearing blood fever, there was no other way to stop the child other than excessive force if his this didn't work. This has got to work!
Xairin tried harder. Tommy seemed stunned for a moment. His cat like pose became relaxed. He didn’t say much, just a few mumbles. He was being held in place.
Xairin had to think fast. The mental commands he used, were specifically directed at the kids muscles, telling them to relax and remain still. He had to find this kid something to eat and quick.
Given he was in a rundown alley, rats had to be present. Xairin’s red eyes began scanning for body heat. EUREKA! He thought. A rat thankfully was scurrying about. Xairin went for it. He grabbed the rodent and twisted it's head off like the cap to a bottle of water and put it right in front of the kid’s nose. He then put in the boys left hand and stepped back in front of Anna. He hoped this would work.
The psionic flow from Xairin’s mind lessened, allowing the kid to move. Just as Xairin hoped, the vampiric sense of smell caused the child to look down and suck the rat down like a kid slurping a box of Kool aid without a straw. His chin became a gory scene.
Xairin saw another rat, and another. He grabbed the two of them quickly, and offered the same fate. As for the boy, he grabbed the rats like a feral raccoon would. He feasted, making slurping noises. Given his size, Xairin hoped three rats would at least make the child reasonable.
Recalling the woman’s words, Xairin called out. “Tommy?”
Tommy looked up with a curious expression. “I’m still hungry.”
Xairin knelt down slowly. “I know. But you don’t have to hurt people to get blood.”
He waited until Tommy stopped looking at Anna. “My name is Xairin.”
Tommy tilted his head and began looking over Xairin’s clothing. It clearly didn’t fit in with the scavs. “You’re from the city of lights, one of those civ types.”
Xairin realized this kid had never been in the GA territories before. That made Xairin sad. He couldn't understand why people would choose this life. “Yes, I’m from Bastion City.” He hesitated. “And I’m like you, I’m a vampire too.”
The boy didn’t have a scientific understanding, nor a comprehension of what Xairin knew obviously, but he did have a stronger link to the bat that made him this way since he was a Beta. “The white bat… She bit you too?”
Xairin nodded. “Yes, yes she did.”
Anna was listening. Hearing Xairin speak, did calm her some, but her heart rate was still beating like a loud drum, thudding in Xairin’s ears. He looked at her. “And you’re Anna?”
Her eyes fixated on Xairin. “Who are you? Why…?”
Xairin stood up slowly. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. I came honestly with the intentions of helping. Those bats that attacked this boy, did you see them?”
Anna fearfully blurted. “You mean those demons?”
Xairin sighed. “They’re not demons, they’re just infected bats. The comet, it brought something.”
Most scavs had no idea about the R-9 comet. All they knew was an explosion happened in the skies. Anna seemed confused. Xairin realized what was going on.
“You don’t know about the comet?”
“What’s a comet?” Tommy inquired.
Xairin looked at both of them. “Okay, I really don’t have time to go into it, but basically this giant red ball was on its way to earth, they blew it up, and parts of it fell to earth. It had something in it that made those bats, ok?”
Tommy seemed to be buying it, Anna wasn.t “No.. No.. It was you GA FUCKS THAT DID THIS? You all want us dead, so you summoned those things, or created them. You all are responsible for this? You want us gone so you can bring back the filth of the past!”
Xairin looked at her with his, WTF expression washing across his face. “Are you serious?”
She stood up. “Demons, your people made demons, and you’re one of them!”
Xairin shook his head while facepalming. “Okay, Tommy? You seem to be the more mature person here.” He looked at the boy. “Can you tell me, where the white bat is sleeping?”
Tommy nodded. “I feel her all the time. I know where she sleeps.”
Finally, Xairin at least was on the right track. His good intention to save Anna was paying off. Even if she was a bat shit crazy loon. “Can you take me there? There are some people held up there, kids and grownups, those bats might hurt them.”
Tommy nodded. “The Waslick camp. I know them.”
Xairin realized from Tommy’s reply, that the camps must have certain territories since they had a name. “Waslick?”
Anna stood up looking at Xairin. Her heart was slowing a little. “Why do you want to help them?” She made a spitting action.
Clearly she didn't like them Xairin figured. “What? Are they bad people?”
Anna scoffed. “They just think they’re better than the rest of us since they live in that tower.”
Xairin shrugged. “Look lady, I don’t care if they think they’re shit don't stink, I just want to try and get them out of there before some of those bats make more vampires, not to mention, no kid deserves to be eaten alive by monsters.”
Anna seemed confused. Xairin did come across having a genuine vibe to his intentions. She also wondered why a monster with his red eyes would want to help save people. She replied him saving her by stopping Tommy. “I don’t understand. Why would you want to help? You’re a?”
“Civilian?” Xairin said sarcastically.
She looked at him. “A creature.”
“Look, Anna.. I don’t have time to play games. I came here because I wanted to stop people from getting hurt. Now, we need to get off the streets before those ghouls hear us.”
“Ghouls?” Tommy asked.
“Yes, those dead people. You know, the ones running around eating people and rotting?”
Anna began to mumble a bible verse. It was one Xairin thinks he had hard before, but was a little different. He knew that dozens of incarnations of the text had existed. He had studied dogmatic world practices once. Anna’s voice quivered. “Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast forth the dead.”
Xairin frowned. “Okay then. So, let's get out of here before this city casts forth some more dead our way.”
_____
The slip.
Ethan had decided to depart for earth in a personal craft. It was smaller than the Surveyor-2. Minivan sized and oval shaped. It had the same laser propulsion that all space ships used to reach sound breaking speeds, then used the same laser technology to heat up tachyons once the scanner picked them up.
Ethan was scanning for a tachyon presence. He had to get back to earth and hopefully help with the ghoul infestation. He also wanted to help find Xairin, clearly the vamp had some promise.
His white shuttle traveled quickly as he typed on his touchscreen to the right of his motorcycle shaped steering wheel. Finally it lit up, showing an atomic particle vibrating yellow. He punched the laser emitter and a beam shot out in a single line from his shuttle.
A singularity was forming. The yellow whirlwind formed. Ethan programed the coordinates to earth’s orbit on the touch screen, and hit the enter key. All he had to do now was guide the ship inside the yellow glowing tornado lighting up Jupiter’s orbit.
Before he entered the slip, he had to contact Ty, his Beta and assess the situation. Entering the slip, meant no communication for the next hour. He didn’t want to chance anything.
With a few strokes on his touch screen glowing to the left of his van styled chair, an image on the screen populated. Ty Chambers was a dashing young man with a clean-shaven head, and a sporting dark goatee. He was happy to see his sire and spoke with a deep masculine quality to his voice. “Ethan, are you in earth’s orbit yet?”
“No Ty, not yet. I need to know the situation before I arrive. Has Velma or Megan prepared our nestmates for combat if the infestation breaks out?”
Ty nodded. “We have been summoning all of our nest, including the new additions, but one hasn’t reported in yet.”
Ethan knew it had to be Xairin. “Xairin Thunder?”
“Yes, we have had trouble sensing him.”
Ethan rolled his eyes. “I’m guessing the blood pact needs bolstering with that one. Have our nest at the ready. I should be in earth’s orbit within an hour depending on slip turbulence.”
“Ty, what is the situation with the ghoul infestation?”
Ty seemed a little troubled. He was slow to answer, and when he did, he spoke slowly. “It is on the news feeds, humans are, aware of the situation. So far, the threat is contained to Bastion City Bridge, the one that used to be called the…”
Ethan interrupted. “I know which one it is Ty. Are they contained to New York City only?”
Ty nodded. “For the moment.”
Ethan let out a slow breath. “Ty, I want you at that bridge, take your spawn with you. Tell Velma and Megan I will be home within the hour.”
Ty was a fighter at heart. Ethan had turned him thirty years ago. He had found him lying in the streets of New LA, bleeding to death. Ty was a street fighter, a back alley brawler that made extra currency by entering illegal fights. He was too far gone to enthrall, Ethan, feeling pity on the man, decided to convert him before his body went cold. After that, Ty became an enforcer in Ethan’s nest, his underlings are just as spry. “It will be done.” Ty informed.
_____
BASTION CITY BRIDGE ZONE 1
The old Jersey Bridge was infested with four hundred ghouls pushing against one another. The fear at this point was ghouls pushing their own kind over the edges and being washed further down, ending up in random locations that would thwart controlling the outbreak.
As mandated, W.H.O had arrived, with Aaron Battle in combat gear. He had brought with him, another Aeonian he trusted. A man named Kevin Marsh. Kevin was a newer Aeonian. Not one of the recently emerged ones, but one born fifty years ago. He resembled Aaron, and could have been mistaken as his son, but he wasn’t, simply a friend he trusted. The two approached the bubble tents set up as Aaron prepared to investigate.
To his surprise when he entered the main tent, Commander Fentrose was there, alongside military presence. Rhymes was present, but what surprised him most, was Lillian being there, dressed for combat also. She was wearing black kevlar.
Rhymes was pacing. Aaron has arrived just in time. “These ghouls, you say, we kill the Immortium responsible, they all die?”
Lillian nodded. “Yes. But the problem is, not all of the ghouls are related to the same Immortium.”
She used her watch to project a holorecording, playing as if they were right in the crowd of the undead. It was a true VR experience. “As you can see, the majority have the red eyes consistent with what we know to be a vampiric strain tied to an albino bat.”
She walked around the room, till she was standing in front of a frozen holo projection of a different ghoul. This one was a woman, but she didn’t have the red eyes. She had solid back ones. Aside from that, she had elongated razor sharp medial incisors, looking like a sharp buck toothed zombie. She also had something else that stuck out, she had long whiskers sprouted from her nose and one rounded ear that had grown outward, the other ear had been eaten. She had bites all over her face, and arms, while missing her right hand. Her body was oozing black blood from every opening. The sight was, unpleasant at best.
“This woman has characteristics of a wererat ghoul. Which means, that vampires are not the only Immortium roaming the streets of New York City’s ruins. It's clear that we have more than one Immortium responsible for this. My guess, is some unlucky scav resurged as an Alpha or Beta and maybe fed from the dead. Normally making Immortium is a conscious act. We have to will our conversion glands to release when we bite. In the past, those suffering from what we call consumption fever in thropes and mer, or blood fever in vamps, could have caused an accidental release. Either way, we need to kill them to stop the plague.”
Rhymes agreed. “Then we blow up the city.”
Everyone in the room crossed their arms. He scoffed. “Fine, we don't blow up the city. So.. Tell me, what do we do?”
Lillian looked at him. “The red eyed ghouls are likely from the same progenitor. We take it out, and we thin at least 200 or more in one blow. After that, we send in troops, preferably droids or Immortium to assure human casualties and possible infections don’t breach the quarantine zone.”
Commander Fentrose interrupted. “”What makes you think we can find the one responsible?”
Lillian shrugged. “I think there is a vampire over there, trying to help.” She seemed hesitant. “He has the same red eyes, so that means he would have a possible link to vampires created by the same bat. We have reason to suspect he went over there to help some scavs. He reported a link to the bat, and apparently there were people nearby. We think he went to help. So, we find him, we use him to locate other red eyed vampires over there, and after that the process of elimination is easy. Ghouls won’t attack an Immortium responsible for its creation. You just capture a ghoul and see who it won't try and eat.”
Rhymes did like the idea, but that didn’t address the rat faced corpse. “What about the others?”
She shrugged. “Ghoul bites, will turn a human, but in Immortium and Aeonians, it can kill us if severe enough. Their conversion cells are not compatible once they’ve combined with necrotic tissue to create the ghoul strains. We need to thin them out, so that it's safer for any living creature that goes over there to fight. Reason I am suggesting, droid deployment. At least droids won’t be targets for a hungry mob of ghouls.”
Rhymes crossed his arms. “I will arrange for more HKC droids to be deployed.”
Commander Fentrose nodded. �
�I can pull what units Interpol can spare. It will take some time.”
Aaron spoke up. “We need additional drones scouting the river fronts. IF any ghouls fall off that bridge, this situation could go from bad to worse, really quick.”
Lillian agreed. She wanted to give him a limelight, after all he had helped further her cause. “Aaron, is there anything we can do, prophylactically to reduce exposure?”
Doctor Battle nodded. “I’ve brought with me, four crates of S-11, it's the latest in consumable silver nitrate salts. If consumed before exposure, it may prove useful in prevention.”
Rhymes hadn't heard of s-11 yet. “And you were keeping this under wraps?”
Battle shrugged. “Oops.”
Ezra had been invited to attend the briefing. He knew silver was deadly to Immortium and Aeonians, but he was curious about the ghouls. “So silver, this s-11, it can stop the ghouls assimilation cells? What about ghouls?”
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