The Zompire (3 page)

Being such ‘monstrous’ beings, they really didn’t have much liking for huge bodies of water. They were at first hesitant to step into the water for a bath as they did not particularly have any liking for water on their skin. They just did it because they had to. They wanted to get clean clothing so as to blend in with the human population. They were all males, except for one lone female, though that didn’t matter much to them. They neither cared about sex nor did sexuality matter to them. Being totally asexual by their nature, they were oblivious of the opposite sex. After grooming themselves, having nothing else to wear, they put on their tattered bullet riddled robes once more. They set out on their journey that night, running all the way. In roughly two hours they reached the outskirts of town where they stopped and spread out in different directions to survey the vicinity. When they met back at their meeting point, they chose an abandoned train subway located in the heart of the town for their hideout. They went in and remained there. After a few hours into the morning with no one forthcoming to use the subway as they suspected, they chose each an inconspicuous place to conceal itself and went to sleep. It was a cool morning which gave rise to a hot afternoon as the sun made its drift from east to west. Soon after dawn, they awoke and drifted into the city keeping away from lighted streets with people so as not to draw attention to themselves. Sunlight was still one of their major enemies, but only if they stayed in it too long. They were not typically vampires. These ones don’t just simply disintegrate when even a drop of sunlight touches their skins.

Surely, the ragged and bullet riddled clothing they wore would raise suspicions. After searching for a while, they found a hideout where some drug addicts were gathered, selling, buying and using drugs. It was in their best interest to not attract unwanted attention and to blend in with vagrants of the streets. They waited for a number of them to disperse. After waiting a while the last set of buyers were gone, two of the users started leaving and two of the group members immediately shadowed them in the dark alley leading to the outside and made a quick meal out of them. They were fast and effective, and their new victims didn’t even have the time to let out a sound. The once able bodied men were now soon lying on the dirty ground unconscious. They stripped them of their clothes and returned to Nelkon, the one monitoring the remaining opium sellers. Jeremy and Asher explained that there was a strange taste and scent to their victims’ bloods and that it was giving them a strange feeling. Figuring it was probably due to the drug they had taken, Nelkon advised them not to feed anymore on the blood of filthy human drug abusers.

“ No more of that fucked up blood, you hear me guys!” he told them sternly.

Soon, an opportunity presented itself and they attacked and killed the remaining three men. They however did not bother feeding on their blood. They simply gathered what money they had on them and took their clothes from them and quickly left the scene. They quickly changed into the clothing they had dispossessed their victims of under the subway where they had spent the day. The youngest, by name Asher was then sent to go down to the newsstand and see if he could still grab a copy of the day’s paper. Asher was one vampire that would be hard to spot as one even among humans. He still had this fairly colorful skin. His was just a pale yellow unlike that of the rest of them which was now a pale purple shade of whatever it used to be. On getting there he found the man packing up. He hurriedly browsed through each publisher’s papers and when he could not find anything related to what they seek other than a follow up story on the deceased engineer, Marvis Reed. He purchased the newspaper anyways despite that it was old news. While the man went about to see if he could get change to give Asher balance, he returned back to the spot where he left Asher standing. He left without collecting his change because of not wanting to stay out in the open like that for much longer and the sunlight was getting rather unbearable.

They decided to buy a television which they intended to connect in an abandoned office in the subway definitely one of that would have previously belonged to the transport agency’s staff. Part of the money stolen from the opium sellers was used to purchase the television that same night. They then went about connecting it to power after which they turned it on but nothing was showing. Slotting in the dusty arial cable which had been hanging out of the wall probably for years, the TV came alive. They were startled by the loud sound. Asher quickly turned it down. He then tuned across several channels till he found one that was giving the news broadcast on the hour. They sat and watched with focused attention. Then it came.

“A staff of Altraco Construction Company contracting the
Eurasian Canal
by name Marvin Reeds who was reported missing two days ago has been confirmed dead by security operatives. Mr. Reeds who served in the capacity of a surveyor on the project, security operatives stated was found dead somewhere deep in the forests bounding the construction location and authorities stated earlier today in a press release that a small vampire clan in that vicinity were responsible for the attack and that they have arrested one of them. They stated that it would be only a matter of time before they would get to the rest of them. Requests to see the vampire by the media were denied as the agency stated that it had been moved to a secret research facility”.

The vampires realized it would be much more difficult for them to get the information they needed. As they pondered the ne
xt course of action to take; a breaking news came up on the television stating that five deaths had been reported in Edinbur of five men who were apparently drug dealers found dead, two in the alleyway leading to their hideout where the other three were found. Contrary to prior assumption of the cause of their deaths as a drug deal gone sour, the newscaster continued, authorities having established that this was the doing of those menacing vampires. A high profile alert has been established and an emergency curfew is being enforced in the small town of Edinbur.

“We have to leave immediately,” the eldest, Nelkon quickly said.

The second however reminded him that they were yet to choose a member to complete their number as they earlier agreed which was also one of the reasons they came. He nodded in agreement.

“We will quickly do that on our way if the police has not filled up the streets,” Nelkon assured.

They peered from behind the entrance into the subway. When they saw it was safe to come out, they scurried off into the streets and down the main road. They then branched into an inner street. Nelkon saw a street club right down the end of the street and some street hawkers in front of it.

“Asher you have to go, pick two and lead them to a room on the ground floor. We will join you from the back of the building. Just tap the window to let us know which room you are in.” Nelkon said.

He handed him some US$100 notes. Asher went as instructed.

The ladies were running their hands all over him, each hoping to have him pick her for the night.

“Oh you are cold man, come with me, let me make you sweat” one of the girls said.

He looked into her face. She was young and looked like one in her late twenties. He wondered what she was doing selling herself on that cold night. At the other end an obviously older prostitute was sitting down on the pavement smoking her cigarette silently. She had an average body and he felt she had a body for their purpose. He called her much to the protest of the others that were around him. As she came up to him, he stated he was taking her and the other who offered to warm him up. Leaving the others they went into the dimly lit hall and walked by scores of people making for the table stand where Asher intended to pick a room key. The older lady stated that she had a permanent room that was already paid for in the strip club in which she attended her customers. And her payment was already included in her charges. To this Asher sharply declared that he would pay whatever her charges but insisted he had his favorite room which he would want them to use. They giggled in agreement.

“So long as you are paying my full charges,” she said, winking at him repeatedly.

He passed some bills to the man at the desk and collected a key to room nineteen which was on the ground floor.

Nelkon and Jeremy were already in the compound and just as they had expected, there were no protectors on the windows. Going over the fence was no challenge for them as they simply leapt over it. Now waiting earnestly for the go ahead alert from Asher, they heard the outburst of laughter from Asher and two other female voices entering a room a few metres ahead of where they were. They quickly moved to the window; finding that the window was unlocked, slid it open noiselessly and waited. Asher was already aware that they were there. His hyper-sensitive ears had picked up their sounds and he didn’t bother rapping on the window again. The two ladies kissed him a little which had him pulling all the restraint he could summon not to release his fangs and bite into their neck. They took off their clothes, strip teased him before excusing themselves to go have a quick shower in the bathroom. As soon as the bath water began running, Asher moved to the window and pushed the window blind open so as to unlock the window but found that it was already open, meeting two glistening red eyes. They heaved themselves in as fast and quietly as possible and motioned him to sit back on the bed while they each waited by the sides of the bathroom door. The younger lady was first to come out, stark naked, closely followed by the older. She had a beautiful body, but being a vampire, Asher didn’t have that type of sexual urge. She glanced across the room, seeing Asher, she turned and made her way forward to meet him when her peripheral view caught a figure beside her. She was seconds late. Before she could turn fully, Jeremy had her by the Jugular and they both dropped to the floor. In that instance, the other lady got very frightened and hysterical. Before she could open her mouth to let out a scream, a strong hand cupped her mouth from behind. Her struggles were in vain as he took the luxury of time to sniff her before he gave her a bite. She shuddered at the bite and soon after, stopped moving, falling with a loud thud to the floor.

Nelkon and Jeremy lay the two unconscious ladies on the rug in the middle of the room, close to both ends of the room and rolled them inwards. Asher took a penknife and divided the rug into two before they completed the roll up. They stealthily heaved them out of the room through the windows ensuring that no one was looking out of the window from the floor above them. All they could hear was moans from the commercial sex workers and their customers. Nelkon jumped over the fence and gently lowered the two wrapped bodies which Jeremy and Asher lifted over to him. The two were over the fence also soon enough and putting the bodies into the back of a Chevy van that Nelkon had stolen some minutes earlier.

“Where the hell did you get this Chevy from?” Asher asked.

“Well, the owner was very kind enough to let me have it for a while, and by the way, the owner is also in the back!” Nelkon stated.

Asher looked at him surprised. A smirk crossed his face as he looked on ahead into the road. Not knowing much about the road network and in an effort to avoid running into the police, they simply drove though obscure streets into the same part of town where they had entered the town from the night before.

On getting there, they each carried one of the bodies and followed the path into the woods same way they came. They walked and sometimes ran for a while without stopping even with the weight of the bodies weighing on them. They made a stop only once to rest and after a thirty minutes rest, they continued till they got back to the cave. It was early hours of the day when they arrived at the cave. They found that some stranger or strangers had been in their home. They were astonished to even know that someone else could’ve known about their secret hideout. Asher’s compass, wallet, work-boot and other tools were missing. These were tools he used at work before the night on which he was converted. They knew they had to move. They however had to figure where to. It had to be as soon as possible though and carrying the trio from Edinbur was one task.

“Let us wait till later tonight, suggested Nelkon.

                                
Chapter 4

Upon
Dr Lenzo and his team’s arrival at the research facility, Dr Mabel was most happy, but also sad when he saw his friend. He felt bad knowing what this operation had almost cost his friend and long time partner his life. However, Lenzo did nothing to depress him. Dr Lenzo was more optimistic and glad than the last time they met. They brought the vampire in, still in his cage, being wheeled in on something resembling a large stretcher. Dr Mabel was excited by then, and kept circling around the cage, snapping pictures and noting features he could see and his possible explanations for them. He was at last getting a chance to work with a live vampire specimen. He had many questions and he was sure going to get all the answers. He had many tests to run and this was surely one of the very rare chances he will get. He however attended to Dr Lenzo first. After running a series of test for any trace of the Human Vampirism Virus, HVV responsible for Vampirism, Mabel certified that Lenzo was completely clean much to the relief of everybody.