The Relict (Book 1): Drawing Blood (13 page)

Chapter Twenty Two

<incoming>messagevcnet>>

Fellow Shadows,

I’m excited to update the latest on the
STAY ALIVE!
Care Packages which were dropped across the Uppyr and Vjesci regions last week.

I can sincerely attest to some guarded optimism regarding the entire
SA!
CP Operation and its goal in recruiting more blood donors.

Kudos to VC members Bernhardt, Lochner, and Dedio for their brilliant idea!

Over 20,000 care packages were dropped in the Vjesci region alone, with the following message attached to all the packages:

You don’t have to be an outlier to stay alive!

Let’s WORK TOGETHER!

Join us in our effort to STOP THE BLOODSHED!

Review the included map and use the portable GPS…

And go to the nearest Donation Transport Station near you!

Simply wear one of the red shirts included in this package.

One of our Outreach Teams.will get you to a Donation Center.

And your FIGHT TO SURVIVE WILL FINALLY BE OVER!

You will be taken care of FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!

Your WELL-BEING is our TOP PRIORITY!

Included in this package are:

(2) Boxes of Bandages

(1) 8-ounce bottle of Disinfectant

(12) Sterilized Needles

(6) Needles with pre-loaded doses of Morphine

(6) 8-ounce bottles of Sanitized Water

(3) 8-ounce bottles of 97% proof alcohol

(2) 8-ounce bottles of 100% pure Orange Juice

(1) 16-ounce package of sugar

(2) 16-ounce bags of Beef Jerky.

STAY ALIVE so we can find you and bring you into our care.

Let’s all STAY ALIVE on this planet TOGETHER!

The initial data on the
SA!
CP Operation has come in, and as I’ve already indicated, there is a reason to have guarded optimism. 19% of the
SA!
Care Packages have been moved from their initial drop points. In the last week, 37 living donors visited a Donor Transport Station; and 23 have survived long enough to contribute their first two pints at a Blood Donation Center.

I want to acknowledge those of you who have contacted my staff to strongly suggest that we enact the sonar-homing device located on all the
SA!
Care Packages and begin rounding up the recipients. I will honestly confess to not passing on to the other members of the VC any of your suggestions or objections concerning this operation. The justification for my lack of letting your views be known is because I firmly believe that this operation has just begun, and we must wait and see the results before concluding that it has not been a success. Furthermore, by activating the homing devices to zero in on all of those who have the care package would destroy donor trust and preclude any similar operation in the future.

At this time I simply ask for the patience of everyone who doubts the wisdom of this operation.

To the rest of you; thank you for your positive messages and encouragement!

Stay Hidden, Stay Silent, Stay Sui Generis!

Very sincerely yours,

Hamil Deane

vc member - davanzati region

***

IAN HAYNES’ JOURNAL

Do you remember Mr. McCutchen? We both had him for science in Junior High School. I don’t think he would have changed his lesson plan in the two years that separated us, so I’m betting you heard about his discussion of vampire bats and how their daily behavior has taught us about the concept of altruism.

Each night, vampire bats leave the cave and look to feed. In the morning some return without any success. Vampire Bats will die if they do not get a meal two nights in a row. That is why the bats who were successful in feeding that night, will then regurgitate some of the acquired blood and share with those bats that need to still feed. Underlying this whole nightly dynamic was that those bats who were successful one evening might not be successful the next night, or next week, so they share, and expect the same kind of treatment in the future. This is what Mr. McCutchen called an example of “Altruistic behavior in the animal kingdom.” He considered it a sign that humans, like most animals, like vampire bats, were altruistic in nature.

However, years after we both graduated, there were new findings that challenged the foundation of the study that formed the basis of Mr. McCutchen’s lesson plan – scientists have documented that the sharing of blood from one bat to another has been shown to only occur when the bats were related, as in the same family: mother to child; child to parent… brother to brother.

This is known as kin selection, not altruism.

I wonder if Mr. McCutchen revised his lesson plan.

I have written many of these entries with the idea that perhaps you will one day be reading this. But I have to say, after last night, I should lower my expectations that you will ever get the opportunity to read these words.

Matt, you should know that what I did for you was beyond the call. And yet, how was I rewarded?

I left Spector within seconds of your exit. I wanted to see if your walk to the barracks building would bring just a moment of recognition of what I did for you. I won’t claim to have saved your life: the head of CCC197 security knows better than to kill a healthy donor.

But still, imagine my disappointment when all I witnessed was a conversation about the Lakers and the Nets between you and the guards. Never mind that everyone that once played professional basketball is dead. I speak of just the very idea that you would engage in a meaningless conversation with two nobodies while my latest effort to save your life goes completely without acknowledgement.

Tonight I put a little “blood” in your mouth so you could live and you would see the love that I still have for you. My effort was rewarded with complete ambivalence.

My entry today is a recounting of what preceded the following vow to myself – I will make no more efforts to help you avoid the fate of most of humanity.

I had set aside the experience of our initial meeting, believing it would be too early to judge any of your words as definitive. But now you’ve had time to reconcile recent revelations and your actions are a testimonial to your feelings regarding our relationship – I died ten years ago… and as far as you’re concerned… I’m still dead.

***

Ian told the Outreach Supervisor working for him that he would depart from the rest of the patrol and search the Morristown Canals for possible donors.

It was a lie so Ian could get away and be by himself.

After everything that had happened recently, all Ian could think about was to hide.

His first choice was a place he remembered playing with his brother Matt when they were younger. Standing in one of the canal tunnels, he hoped to take in the same breath of air they both breathed so many years ago.

When he emerged hours later, a fog had settled over the turbine incline plane near the Stewartsville canal station. It took him a few moments to realize that Winston was standing nearby. Ian was “startled” in a way that only a vampire understands.

Rarely does a human fail to alert another vampire of his presence, long before they share the same space. And all vampires, at least those who have been properly taken under wing, know the essential courtesy of sending a signal of approach before sharing the same space.

“Sir, you surprised me?”

“I am so sorry, Ian,” said Winston. He then shut his eyes and would not open them until he finished with his apologies. “Please, forgive me for not making my presence known earlier.”

Ian replayed back in his head his actions for the last several hours.

Satisfied there was nothing his mentor could have seen that would bring him shame, he replied, “Sir, you did not offend me in the least. Besides, whatever you choose to do, I am here to listen to your reasons…”

It was only then Winston opened his eyes.

“Well, I must confess, that I’ve been here for quite awhile observing you.”

“You’ve never questioned my habits, nor my spirit to serve your desire,” said Ian, as he stepped over some exposed Roebling cable and onto the sleeper stones that ran for miles along the route of the canal. “You must have had cause to observe my behavior,” continued Ian, now standing just a few feet away from his mentor. “As I said, I am here to listen to your reasons…”

“Will you walk with me? Along the way, I will try to explain.”

They moved through the woods, proceeding in such a way that their presence could not be observed, except for a few species with a beating heart.

Their mode of travel covered a great distance. Ian never suspected that Winston was guiding them toward a specific destination as they spoke.

His mentor steered their conversation toward experiences they had shared together prior to the takeover. Ian trusted that Winston had a purpose to the memories he had sorted through, selected and was now recounting. He was certain that everything had been carefully deliberated over.

Winston’s extractions invited Ian to voice his recollections as well. However, the more they recounted their shared past, the more Ian became confused. There seemed to be a bigger point underlining the direction and focus of Winston’s words, but Ian could not deduce enough of his mentor’s aim to imagine the target.

“I recently hinted at the circumstances concerning the turning of your brother, Julian, but I did not offer any details…”

“Since time is never an issue, I assure you, sir, that I was not impatient. You were distracted, if I recall,” said Ian.

Winston chose that moment to stop their travel, and all around them the world came back into focus.

“I am not distracted now,” said Winston. “Indeed I am focused in a way that I have not been in a very long time.”

“Sir, are you… all right?”

Winston grabbed Ian and yanked him closer, “Tell me the truth. Do I not look… alive.”

“Yes…sir, you do indeed look alive.”

They both smiled, and the grip on Ian’s arm turned gentle.

“I have never shared our experiences with anyone else. Nor do I choose to share the experiences I have had with Julian. Only he can choose to share those experiences with you. But I want to tell you something because it is time you knew…”

He paused, as if he heard something in the distance, but whatever drew Winston’s attention did not change his demeanor as he continued to speak to Ian.

“There is another that shares my blood. Our blood. I turned her… and Julian at the same time. But it was only because of her that I embarked on the reckless act of turning Julian.”

Winston tightened his grip on his arm and pulled Ian to him. He kissed the side of Ian’s neck, his lips resting on the original scar, before he whispered, “there are two final fates waiting for all of us. Only those with an imagination are able to choose…”

He released his arm, and Ian staggered backwards. Perhaps if he reclaimed some space between them he could think clearly about the words that had passed between them.

“Sir, I apologize,” he finally said after a long silence. “But what you have said… your words… they are overwhelming me…”

Winston nodded his head. “It is to be expected. The words I have spoken to you will resonate only when you understand them first. However, Ian, that will take more than just…
time
.”

There was a voice from afar. And it was then Ian understood why Winston had paused earlier. He had always said, “those that walk with my blood, I can hear walking a mile away.”

“Winston… Ian… why are you standing there? I thought I was very clear where we were to meet…”

The voice engulfed Ian in a way that Julian probably wished he could wield over everyone, especially his kind. Despite the impending presence of his blood brother, he whispered to Winston, “Sir, what is happening?”

But Winston answered his question with a question: “Our kind. How are we defined?”

His question was the beginning of a mantra spoken traditionally as a dialogue between two vampires.

“Our kind are not defined by death,” answered Ian.

Winston recited the next line, “But our existence is dependent on the living.”

“What must we do to justify taking the blood of the living so we may exist?” asked Ian.

“We must give back to the living at least what we take in return…,” said Winston, but Ian noticed his mentor’s eyes had lost focus midway through his answer and he was staring off into space.

Ian was troubled, but he continued, reciting the last line of the dialogue.

“… or we are a kind that should have embraced extinction when it was offered.”

“What are you two doing!” shouted Julian, as he walked up to them. “The sun will be rising soon and I don’t feel like racing back to the compound. C’mon, I called you out here for a reason. I’ve got something to show you both…”

Winston did not hesitate. He began following Julian as he walked toward a mountain that had a halo of orange smoke drifting just above it.

When he realized Ian had not kept up with them, Winston turned and motioned to him. “Come along, my son; the three of us are so seldom all together.”