at any rate... here is the next installment
Hours seemed
to go by before I finally heard the sound I had been seeking. I could hear the
gentle warbling of a stream and I headed further into the woods. My mouth was
so dry that I forgot to worry about whether the water was clean or safe. As I
knelt by the side of the little brook I splashed the cold and refreshing liquid
on my face. I couldn’t imagine any danger in it. It was the sweetest, freshest
water I had ever tasted in my entire life. I savored the coolness until I had
drunken more than my fill. I opened the leather bag, hoping there was something
in it that I could use to carry some water in. Maybe my vampire companions
didn’t need water, but I did. Unfortunately the only thing in my bag that might
be used to carry water was a jar filled with dirt, an empty jar that had
contained the dirt from 1408 that brought us here and that I suspected I would
be required to fill before we left, and my little bottle of Tloq. None of them
could be used for water.
My belly
was full and bloated with all the water I had consumed, but just for good
measure and with the thought that I might not get to drink again for quite some
time, I took a few more hearty gulps. I wiped the access from my chin before I
got to me feet and turned to head back to the cemetery. I would have to ask
Quintas and Zhivvah about water after they woke up.
I stayed to
the trees, hiding and holding my breath when a farmer, leading a drove of sheep
passed down the road. I know he didn’t suspect anybody was there watching him
because he passed gas twice and lifted up his shirt to scratch his big hairy
belly. I turned my head as he relieved himself, trying to not laugh. But other
than that brief encounter I never saw another living soul for the entire day.
For a while
more I merely sat under the tree watching the crypt. How strange life could be.
Just yesterday I was concerned about my homework. Today I was sitting in a
cemetery waiting for my vampire friends to wake up.
Of course,
I spent quite a bit of time thinking about Emryl and Dr. Payton’s blog and
monsters. So far I was beginning to think that the world of monsters was
reserved for vampires. They’re the only kind of monster I had seen so far. But
none of my undead friends had reputed the claims of zombies, werewolves or
witches. I tried though, not to think about monsters period because every time
I did the image of that wicked, gray face and glinting, wanting eyes flashed
before me. And then as if in slow motion I saw the poker in my hand penetrate
his chest with such force that I could scarcely conceive of the power I had
within me. And then I saw myself swing the poker and strike him in the neck. I
hadn’t hit him in the head or the shoulder or the arm, with precision and skill
I had hit him exactly where I needed to hit him. With a second swing I had
removed his head. How had I done that? That’s when the self-loathing began. I
didn’t care how I had done it. I was disgusted that I could do it at all. Why
hadn’t I recoiled? Why hadn’t I tried to run?
I was
anxious and angry and upset. I found my hand grasping the poker once again and
I was on my feet. For whatever reason I was filled with energy and passion. All
of the frustration I was feeling was focused and I stared icily at the trunk of
the tree I had been sitting under. I didn’t hesitate and before I could stop
myself I was swinging the poker and beating the hell out of the tree.
When at
last my anger had diminished and I ceased my attack I was shocked to find that
my blind fury was not random. I had expected to find that I had left a chaotic mess
of slashes in the trunk of the tree. Instead, there were only two gashes. Both
of them were very precise and very, very deep. Somehow, I had hit the same
place over and over and over. If I had kept up my mini tantrum I might have
even been able to fell the tree. I let my fingers slide over the damage that I
had caused, amazed at the accuracy I had managed. I dropped the poker at my
feet and gawked, open mouthed for a little while. What did it all mean?
As the heat
of the afternoon really hit I was grateful for the cool shade my little tree
offered. My stomach started growling
though and I was getting thirsty again.
It was with
great regret I had to admit to myself I had never had to provide myself with
food. I went shopping, of course, and I’d been cooking simple meals like
Macaroni and Cheese and Raman noodles for myself since I was ten. But I had no
idea how to forage for food or to hunt. To be honest, I wasn’t even real
certain what kind of nuts or berries were edible or what would poison and kill me.
It also
occurred to me as I glanced at the crypt that I should probably catch some Z’s
too. Tonight my three companions would be rejuvenated and ready to go. No doubt
Quintas would have a plan. I needed to change my thinking and sleep when they
slept or this whole adventure would be us waiting for each other to sleep. I
could adjust. Being vampires, they could not change when they rested.
Since I was
too frightened to sample any of the vegetation, I decided I would content
myself with a drink of water and then I would come back and try to get a nap in
before the others woke up.
I really
hadn’t wandered for hours before. It was only a twenty minute walk to the fresh
burbling stream I had found before. I drank until I had my fill, and then as I
had before, I ducked in to the trees to make my way back to the graveyard.
I settled
myself into the sweet smelling grass and closed my eyes, willing myself to go
to sleep. But the sun was so hot and I
felt pretty rested. Add to that the prospect for adventure and my mind just
wouldn’t allow me to go to sleep.
The sun was
just beginning to lower in the sky. The heat, though, lingered and I was
beginning to get thirsty again. Ignoring the growling of my stomach was also
something that was becoming increasingly difficult. This whole adventure thing
was seriously overrated, I thought. Or maybe just adventures with vampires were
boring. I couldn’t help but thinking about Emryl. While I had been simply
sitting under a tree, he was going through some kind of horrendous, painful
torture. I was starting to get very anxious and as the sky went from bright,
sweltering blue to a beautiful reddish orange to a calming, cooling, purple, I
kept glancing at the crypt wondering how dark it would get before my companions
woke up and we would actually be able to accomplish something.
Had they
maybe expected me to do some research during the day? Maybe I should have been
looking for a town and been talking to people to see if there had been unusual
activity going on in the last couple of days. But then I remembered we were in
Spain and I didn’t speak a syllable of Spanish. Also, people weren’t stupid, I
remember getting the heebie jeebies from Zhivvah from the moment I met her. It
was a group of vampires called the protectors that had kidnapped Emryl and Dr.
Payton. Simple folk, especially ones that had never been desensitized by
television, movies, books or video games would definitely pick up some creepy
vibes from vampires. And I decided that talking to people probably wouldn’t have
done me any good anyhow. Perhaps I was trying to make myself feel a little bit
better about doing absolutely nothing for the entire day.
I could
still see alright, it wasn’t quite black when I finally grew restless enough
that I felt I couldn’t wait for another second. I stood up and brushed grass
off of my pants. Would it be dangerous, I wondered, walking in to a crypt full
of sleeping vampires? I could feel my stomach churning with hunger. I hadn’t
eaten much more then crusty bread and moldy cheese since this morning… would
they be hungry too? And if they were hungry, I thought to myself, would they be
able to resist feasting on the easiest, most convenient snack of me?
At the
heavy doorway of the crypt, I hesitated as those thoughts ran through my mind.
I wasn’t quite sure how this whole thing worked yet. Maybe I should wait and
let them come to me. I was just about to go back and sit under the tree and
wait, when I heard muffled, scraping sounds from within the little stone house.
Somebody was stirring and I figured with their sense of smell, they would
already know I was there. It had taken me quite some time to shut the door. I
wasn’t very strong and it was very, very heavy and it took me equally as long
to get the dang thing opened again.
“Rise and
shine!” I called out, wiping my sweaty brow and grinning brightly. But what I
saw, wiped the smile right off my face. Instead of being greeted by the
handsome, perfect faces of my three vampire companions, what I saw was the
distorted, mostly rotted, decaying and skeletal faces of the three corpses. All
three of them had stood up and were slowly making their way over to their own
coffins. Pieces of flesh hung from their bones. Their hair was disarrayed and
clumped in the back where they had been lying in it for however many years. I
knew all three of them had been dead for quite some time because while they all
wore clothes, the clothes were falling apart too. Great holes in many spots
where the chemical reactions from decomposing bodies had helped to expedite the
breaking down of material.
Apparently
I had seen too many zombie movies. I expected them to turn towards me and with
a super human speed and an unnatural hunger for human flesh, attack me. But
none of the walking corpses even seemed aware that I was there. I felt extremely foolish for not having the
foresight to grab my little poker. I had left it by the tree. But none of the
creatures was moving very fast at all. I grunted unhappily but turned and
jogged back to the tree. In the dim light it took me a minute to find the black
weapon that was buried by the long grass. They didn’t have lawn mowers in 1408.
Finally I had my trusty weapon in hand and I ran back to the crypt.
One of the
things had actually made it to its coffin. For a minute I watched it, wondering
what it was trying to do. It kept walking in to the side of its coffin, would
stumble backwards and then walk forward again. After a little while I decided
that the problem was that its brains had decomposed and that it was literally
incapable of thinking. It wanted back in its resting place, but couldn’t figure
out how to open the coffin lid to get back inside.
With a loud
yell I raised my poker above my head and ferociously I swung it and the things
head went flying. I imagined it would collapse into a useless heap of bones but
it didn’t. Without its head it continued to walk into the coffin. I raised the
poker again and was just about to scatter its ribs around the room, but when I
attempted to strike it again I found resistance. I figured it was another one
of the walking skeletons and with gritted teeth I spun around and pushed as
hard as I could against my attacker.
“Woe!”
Quintas cried as he actually stumbled backwards a few feet. “Don’t hurt them,
Syd,” he said with a slight smile. He steadied himself, and approached me.
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