The Zompire (7 page)

Back in the lab, the Zombie morphed vampire now having killed all but one, an officer of the SSS named Cannon who it only bit into a vampiric coma, he sought an exit. It raged on and destroyed a lot of things in the room. In its ongoing rage, it hit a side of the wall and found that it tore under his new found extra strength. The wall was a wooden partition. He tore through it and got into the adjoining room which had its door wide open. It quickly ran out that door, trailing the scent of the two scientists who had escaped. Their scent led him to the exit of the facility which was securely locked. It hit the door very hard, even running towards the door to give it a massive hit. Despite all its efforts of charging the door to break it down, it left nothing more than a dent of his fists on the metal alloy. It gave up on that and went back to room where he had attacked his victims. It went in and settled to make a meal of his victims. It fed voraciously, now eating their flesh as opposed to drinking only blood that it would have when it was only but a vampire. It now had very powerful jaws that chew through human flesh and cracked the bones as though it was merely munching on chicken leg bones. It cracked opened one of the bones after skinning it and sucked out every sip of bone marrow in it. Its eyes now a dirty light green, it left the room to seek an alternative exit and soon it found a window. It broke the louvre of glasses with its bare hands, suffering cuts that it seemed not to feel at all but met with the metal burglary protection fixed to the windows. He pushed a couple of times on the thick bars of metal before realizing it was not going to budge like that. It went around looking for a tool and stumbled into the tool room. The heaviest metal it could find was a huge adjustable spanner that had a heavy head. He picked it up and back at the window, it broke the concrete into which the rods were cast. Within few minutes of work, it was out and he was out in the open. It ran around the building to get to the main entrance and from there trailed the two that had escaped. It was determined not to let them go as its memories were now of them puncturing his calves and injecting something into him; memories he acquired as he ate the brains of the unfortunate remains of those in the lab. Given his speed, he got to the phone booth in no time and saw a blurred human figure within the three inch thick glass. Though he could not see who it was, he followed the scent and grabbing the caller, found it was not his game. He killed the man in his fury amidst his cries for help and immediately was on his way still trailing the scent of the two.

Drs. Kerkov and Socrates had just left the other phone booth, panicking and contemplating where to go from there. They were yet afraid to go and wait around the medical facility till the emergency troops arrived. They had therefore opted to find a lodge or motel around and wait. They were still walking down a road that they expected to find a lodging accommodation along when they felt like they were being watched and followed. Kerkov was first to feel a tingle of his skin and stopped as if his sixth sense was in over-drive. He spun around sharply but there was nothing there. Socrates also felt strange and thus shared Kerkov’s suspicions. They hastened their footsteps in fear as the road was rather lonely. They had only walked briskly a little distance when a shadow fell before them. The figure was obviously standing right behind them judging from the light source and where its shadow fell. As Socrates turned around in horror, the creature’s tooth sank into his neck and it did not let go of him. Kerkov shouted and ran but he fell to the ground. The creature growled upon seeing Kerkov running away and quickly set his sights on him. He was fast, his speed was the same as that of a vampire; features he obviously retained in spite of his part transformation into a zombie. He was now fully transformed into a
ZOMPIRE ….. a zombie vampire hybrid
. Kerkov’s run for his life was in vain as the zombie morphed vampire closed in on him and knocked him flat to the ground. Whilst trying to regain his composure and get back onto his feet, he looked up into the menacing face of the creature, begging for his life to be spared. The zompire stood there looking at him rather menacingly. He got close and took ahold of Kerkov’s leg …. dragging him up by the leg and sinking his powerful jaws and teeth into his leg. Kerkov screamed out in agony but that was his last as his scream annoyed the morphed creature and it grabbed him by both legs, now holding him upside down, smashing his head onto hard asphalt. People living in the neighborhood who heard the shout and looked out to see what was happening were shocked to see the inhuman nature of  the treatment being metted out to a human being by a large human looking creature in the coolness night. Within minutes, the emergency services units’ telephone lines were flooded with calls summoning them to quickly come to Glover Street where something resembling a vampire was causing grievous bodily harm to a man and may attack innocent bystanders. Other reports that came in were that of a dead man lying on a street adjoining Glover Street. The reporter said he heard a scream which seemed to come from afar but upon looking out his balcony he saw a body lying lifelessly on the road sidewalk. The police emergency response units were immediately on their way and were positive the report from Simpson’s street would not be unrelated to that of Glover Street.

                               
Chapter 6

When the emergency response team arrived some seven minutes later, they were told by a number of witnesses of how they had seen the zombie smash the man’s skull on the streets and gone on to eat every bit of his brain, even to the point of licking the parts splattered on the street. The very visibly shaken residents could only point in the direction through which the creature went off in, their faces filled with fright. Their trained police dogs were already pulling their followers in the direction the offender went. They followed suit while the ambulance unit cleaned up and took possession of the two bodies which were confirmed dead on the spot. They were to be put in the agency’s repository till their identities are linked to family members and their bodies claimed.

The search team kept on in pursuit led by their dogs. They ran all the way and were soon out of breath while their dogs barked at instances. The zompire seemed to have quite swift legs. Judging from the reports from citizens of a zombie being responsible and other citizens saying it was a vampire, police officers were baffled because zombies are not known for being speedy creatures, but yet they said it couldn’t have been a vampire either because vampires only suck blood and don’t eat human body parts. They expected to catch up with it within a couple meters from the murder scene but they were surprised as their pursuit led them into dark alleys and places that didn’t guarantee their safety. Soon their dog stopped by a tree. It circled it twice and then jumped as if with an intent to climb it. The leading police officer went to see what the dog was barking at. As soon as he tilted his head to look up into the tree, all he could see was a figure jumping down onto him.

“ Holy fuck ,” he said as he was frightened.

Before he could pull his firearm, it knocked him to the grassy ground under the tree. Gunshots rang out in the direction of the zompire, some of them hitting him. The creature ran away briskly, its body riddled with bullets. They were amazed at how fast  it moved and though a few of them gave chase shooting at it, the second in command of the team called off the pursuit and instead declared an emergency help response for their team leader. They radioed the ambulance and gave it a direction towards them while they gave first aid. They carried him and hurriedly went to the meeting point. The ambulance was there and from there they headed to the hospital even as efforts were still being made to resuscitate him in the vehicle.

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The State Security Services emergency response team arrived at the research laboratory facility and from what they saw, they immediately knew something was amiss. The hawk eyes of one of the agents saw a huge footprint at the main entrance which led them around the house. As they suspected, there was a breakaway window through which the owner of the footprint had probably escaped. They climbed in to see what they would find as they had called Kerkov’s phone line several times but were yet to get an answer. When they got in, they were alerted by the total state of disarray of things in the lab. They all unlocked the safety on their firearms as they vowed not to suffer the fates as some of their other colleagues. There was pin drop silence and they maintained the status quo so as not to announce their presence as they were not certain what kind of situation or monstrosity they were actually dealing with. The lead pointed them in different directions and they spread out to quickly scope out the perimeter. All was clear as they converged in the laboratory theatre where twelve bodies lay with blood splattered over several surfaces. There was also the awful looking remains of a man which was now but almost half eaten. Some of the men breathed a sigh of relief as all the search units reported back
“ ALL CLEAR”.
They took their time, taking into record all observations and collecting as much evidence as possible when a call came in from their control office notifying them of reported violence in the area leading to the death of two men who were reported to have been attacked by a zombie by eye witnesses. The information further stated that the states security agencies had gone in pursuit of the zombie but that under quite queer circumstances, it had escaped.

The team continued with the situation on ground knowing that the zombie that they were dealing with was in fact not a zombie but a vampire with zombie features and an appetite for flesh. Going after it right then would yield no results as it would have gone far by then. It would only be a matter of time before it kills again and they would be able to track it ……hopefully. They set to cleaning up the lab as instructed by the command headquarters, ensuring that there would be no trace to the lab as the source of the evil that was now on the streets. They confiscated anything that could suggest the project that had taken place there and left hours later.

The head of the state security service picked up his phone and called a very disheartened Dr. Lenzo. He communicated to him that the state needed his presence immediately. He was required to announce that the vampire whom they had caught a few days ago was dead. That way no suspicions would connect the lab and the new creature which has displayed vampire and zombie behaviors and was now  loosely roaming the streets. Dr Lenzo wasn’t so sure that this was a course of action he would want to  be a part of and follow through with it. If it was squarely his decision, he would’ve just made the general public aware of the seriousness of that matter at hand.

“Hiding it would do more harm than good,” he thought to himself.

He even feared that such statements would only incite the vampire clan and probably lead to their having more problems on their hands. He lacked the will to protest being on an all time emotional low. He agreed and a press conference was slated for 12.00pm. Lenzo prepared, attended and said what he was told to; that done, he was happy to be allowed to go back to stay with his family in peace. He was devastated by the loss of his friend and all the men he went on the last expedition with, all in one day. He seldom spoke after that and was always by himself. Even to his wife he spoke very little. She was the only one that could make any sense to him. She knew he was in a very deep place right then and she didn’t want to add to his problems. She simply supported and strengthened him through his tough time.

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The zombie morphed vampire having escaped and lost its pursuers went onwards on his wayward journey. Naturally, the first place it desired to go was its former home. They always had this feeling of nostalgia after a transformation and this time it was no different. It made its way back to its clan’s original home, seeking out the only family it ever knew. Deep in its subconsciousness, it had no good or bad impressions about them. It just knew that it had to get there to move forward beyond that. It was perhaps a desire to gain a deeper understanding of himself that drove him just as most new vampires that awake from vampiric comas do. Most times, family members of the newly converted are the first to suffer at the hands of their relatives, father, mother or siblings as they welcome the vampire thinking that they had found their missing relative who must have been gone for about a day or two. It is at a time like this that their first pangs of thirst hit them and they usually feed on any human closest to them; their blood rage blinding them so much that they do not know how to resist. They are so driven by the savage need to feed and it is usually after such actions that they realize what damage they had done and then run off, seeking a place to stay away from civilization. In the case of this zombie morphed vampire though, it was different. His need to visit his home was different because contrary to the usual, it had fed and was just plainly driven by the nostalgia to see its clan again.