Vampire Breed (11 page)

“It’s good to see you, too,” I smiled, and it was then I realised I couldn’t remember the last time I had smiled.

Like I had embraced Kayla, I limped towards him, and threw my arms around his bony shoulders.

“It’s good to see ya,” he said and squeezed me so tight I thought my ribs were going to snap inside of me. Then in my ear he whispered, “She doesn’t know I’m her brother – she doesn’t know me at all.”

“Okay,” I whispered and squeezed him back. “I’ll leave that for you to tell her.”

“Thanks,” he said back, then pulled gently away.

Turning to face Kayla, I said, “Hey Kayla, this is Isidor.”

Coming towards us, her eyes wide and staring she said, “I’ve seen you a couple of times before - I think you tried to escape once, didn’t you?” she said to Isidor.

“I tried a few times,” he said, throwing his crossbow across his naked back, “not that it got me very far.”

“So how did you both get out?” I asked them.

“That wolf set us free,” Kayla said.

“Yeah, he came to my cell, just before dawn and said that if I wanted to escape than I should follow him. At first I thought it was some kinda sick joke,” Isidor explained. “Then I saw Kayla was with him, and he had my crossbow and rucksack. So before he changed his mind, we went with him and he told us to wait in the shadows by the entrance to the zoo.”

“I asked him what we were waiting for,” Kayla cut in, “and he told us that we would soon know. It wasn’t long before I saw you racing up that path towards us with Phillips and Sparky chasing you down. It was then that I realised that it was a breakout.”

“Why do you think that werewolf helped us?” Isidor asked, rubbing the tops of his arms in an attempt to keep warm.

I thought of Nik and how he had been cursed by his father. I could only imagine the horrendous crimes he had committed, but he had been true to his word and he seemed to be in search of redemption in one way or another.

“He had to do it,” I told them.

“Why?” Kayla asked. “Phillips will kill him for helping us.”

“Maybe that’s what he wanted,” I whispered, almost to myself.

“But, why?” Kayla pushed.

Then meeting her gaze I said, “Just like us, Kayla, I think that all he wanted was to be free. And maybe he has his freedom now.”

Cocking an eyebrow at me, Kayla said, “Whatever you say, Kiera. I won’t pretend to understand what you’re going on about and I’m too cold to be bothered to find out. Let’s say that we find ourselves some meat.”

Hearing Kayla say this, I gripped her arm and said, “What do you mean? What sort of meat are you talking about?” From the corner of my eye, I could see Isidor staring at the both of us.

“Whatever it was they were giving us back at that zoo,” Kayla started, “I don’t know what sort of meat it was, but it was delicious and I can’t get enough of the stuff.”

I glanced at Isidor and something struck me. He looked like a corpse that had been warmed-up – all bones and loose skin, and I looked pretty much the same. But although Kayla looked battered and bruised in other ways, she didn’t look undernourished. Kayla looked as if she had eaten well during her time in captivity at the zoo. And although my whole being craved for the red stuff like an agonising itch that wouldn’t go away however much I scratched it, Kayla was yet to understand that she was addicted to human flesh.

Knowing that this wasn’t the time to explain to her what the Vampyrus and Lycanthrope had been feeding her, I dreaded the moment when I would have to tell her everything that had happened while she had been held prisoner. With my heart sinking in my chest at the thought of that conversation, I put my arm around her shoulder and said, “C’mon, we should find somewhere to hide until we can figure out how we get Luke out of that place.”

Supporting me as I limped down the country road, Kayla said, “Kiera, why are you limping? Have you got something wrong with your leg?”

“It’s a long story,” I said back, “I’ll tell you about it later.”

“Okay, sure,” she smiled, happy enough with my reply. Then, she added, “Hey did you meet my father at the zoo?”

“Uh-huh,” I said, not knowing what to say.

“I think he musta escaped like us,” she smiled at me.

“What makes you think that?” I asked her, knowing that by now he was probably dead.

“Because he stopped coming to see me,” she said, and looking into her eyes, I wondered if she actually believed that.

I glanced back over my shoulder in search of Isidor, another person to join in the conversation, so I wouldn’t have to answer all of Kayla’s questions. But he walked several feet behind us, his head stooped low and I guessed he could hear all of Kayla’s questions and he was wondering how he was going to tell her that he was her brother.

Chapter Nineteen

The track leading away from the zoo carved its way through dense areas of woodland. I was grateful for the trees that climbed high above on either side of us, as they offered a natural camouflage against any of the Vampyrus that might still be searching for us high above. But all the while I kept heading east, towards the town that Nik had called Wasp Water.

When the trees thinned out along the roadside, I ushered the others towards the bushy hedgerows to avoid being seen, just like Murphy would have told us to. Thinking about him, I put my hand into my coat pocket and brushed his tiny silver crucifix with the tips of my fingers. We made our journey in silence, all us looking paler and weaker by the minute and I knew that like me, Kayla and Isidor were fighting their cravings for the red stuff. My stomach continued to cramp, and even though the morning air was bitterly cold, hot beads of sweat streamed from my forehead. Kayla’s fiery red hair lay matted to her brow and cheeks in damp clumps and Isidor staggered along the uneven road, cradling his feverish body with his arms.

I don’t know for how long or how far we had walked, but the meandering track that we had been walking on widened and we found ourselves on a road, which had signposts and markings on it. I prayed that we were nearing the town and hopefully some help.

A small cluster of houses appeared ahead but I could see no signs of life anywhere. The world seemed eerily silent, only broken by the sound of crows squawking from high up in the trees. As we drew nearer to the houses, I could see that some of them looked as if they had been smashed down, like buildings that had been bombed during the Second World War. Now all that was left was mountains of rubble, with the foundations protruding from the ground like twisted limbs. Even through the pain of my cravings, itching skin, and agonising thirst, that voice inside of me, the Kiera that was pushing me on, told me that something was terribly wrong. But my thoughts of searching for help – for Potter – nagged away at the corners of my mind and I knew that we must keep on going. We needed to find food, water and some clothes.

A bath would be good too!
I thought to myself.

So we passed the deserted homes to the left and right and I walked towards the town. As we grew nearer we could see more deserted houses. The world seemed so quiet, only the sound of our bare feet could be heard smacking off the tarmac. Looking down, I was shocked to see that the road surface had split and cracked in places, leaving wild and untamed weeds and plants to sprout from them. Nearing the town, I noticed a sea of lights twinkling on and off up ahead. As we drew nearer, it became clear to me what these lights were. It was the glare of the pale winter sun glinting off the cars that lay strewn across the deserted road.

We walked slowly towards the cars. The wind blew amongst them and I could hear the creak of a car door as it swung open and closed. I took my hand and covered my mouth and nose as a rancid stench wafted towards me. A gasping sound came from behind me and I spun around to see Isidor doubled over getting sick. His sense of smell was far greater than mine and Kayla’s, so the stench must have been overwhelming for him. Going to him, I rubbed his back, and his flesh felt burning hot.

Brushing my hand away, Isidor straightened himself and whispered, “It’s okay, Kiera, I’ll be fine.” Covering his nose and mouth with his hands, he walked on.

Passing amongst the rows of cars, I dared to glance into some of them and then looked quickly away. There were people in them –
dead
people. Their faces were bloated and purple in colour. Black crusty lumps of blood had dried in streams around their noses and mouths. It was obvious they had been running from something – trying to escape the town with the people that they loved. I saw the broken windshields, the scratches running across the hoods of the cars, the hanging bumpers, the upturned faces of the dead, the desperate fingers forever frozen as if clutching the air. I could see the black tire tracks on the road and then my head was thrown back as if invisible hands had grabbed at my hair. And, closing my eyes against the glare of a cold winter sun, I could see what had happened to these people as if being played out like a movie on the inside of my eyelids.

They had come…

…
at dawn, just as the first shades of pink had spilt over the mountaintops. But there was something wrong! Why, on such a beautiful morning, were there black clouds in the sky? The clouds were moving fast, racing over the horizon as if a storm were coming. Black and threatening they came, and as they grew nearer they changed shape. It was as if the clouds where breaking up – falling apart – and the shadows they created on the fields below were just as black and moved faster if that were possible. But they weren’t clouds or shadows. It was Vampyrus that raced through the sky and Lycanthrope that sped over the mountains and fields towards the town. Swooping low, their giant black wings splayed on either side of them, the masses of Vampyrus flew over the town, their white fangs glistening like knives. The werewolves howled and barked as they bounded through rivers, leapt over gates and crashed through people’s front doors.

Children sat up in their beds, rubbing the sleep from their eyes, as they stared in fear at the giant wolves that stood licking their giant snouts.

“Mummy…!” the boy cried, but before he’d had the chance to raise the alarm, he had been snatched away, carried like a rag doll in the giant jaws of a werewolf as it raced back across the fields and between the mountains with its prey.

The town of Wasp Water didn’t wake to the sound of alarm clocks, letters being delivered, toast popping out of toasters, or the rustling of newspapers at kitchen tables. They woke to the sound of screaming, running, barking, howling, tearing and the ripping of flesh.

Half asleep, they ran from their homes, scrambling into their cars as the Vampyrus dropped through the air like stones above them. Windscreens imploding in showers of crystal glass as the Vampyrus ripped the occupants from the vehicles and fed on them. Blood jetted from throats, ears, and noses as the Vampyrus fed in a frenzy of excitement and hatred for these humans.

Cars crashed into each other as their owners fought like demolition derby drivers to get out of town. Some managed to get onto the main road, but the wolves were quick – super fast, and they raced along beside the cars, smashing their giant skulls into them. The cars crumbled as if made from cardboard, veering off the road and into ditches where the occupants were dragged kicking and screaming, until their life’s blood was drained from them. And those who managed to outrun the werewolves were set upon from above, as Vampyrus ripped open the roofs of the cars as if opening a can of sardines. The families inside were snatched away into the sky where they were torn to pieces by the Vampyrus.

More Vampyrus and Lycanthrope came like a plague of rats, their squawking and howling deafening, making me tremble and shake like a tree in a storm. I lurched to and fro as…

…Isidor shook me.

“Kiera! Snap out of it!” he shouted, shaking me from side to side. “Kiera – you’ve got to stop Kayla!”

Snapping my eyes open, I felt my knees buckle, and Isidor steadied me. His eyes were grey and dark smudges circled them.

“Kiera – look at Kayla!” he shouted at me.

Still dazed and disorientated from my vision, I turned slowly and looked at Kayla. She was standing in the centre of the road and staring into one of the cars. Her arms hung motionless by her sides and the wind blew her hair from her shoulders. She appeared to be transfixed by the hideous sights hiding inside the cars. Then slowly, she reached out and opened one of the car doors, spilling one of the dead occupants onto the road. It lay half in and out of the car, its head lolling to one side at an awkward angle as if its neck had been snapped. But looking more closely, I could see that the corpse’s neck hadn’t been broken, it was bearly there at all, ripped away by one of the Vampyrus or Lycanthrope.

As if waking to find myself in a nightmare far worse than the one I’d just woken from, I watched Kayla drop to her knees, brush the hair from her face and lower her mouth to the festering hole beneath the corpses chin.

Then, as quickly as blinking, I was pushing her off the body, sending her crashing onto the road.

“No Kayla” I yelled. “You mustn’t!”

Kayla sprung to her feet, and with fangs sprouting from her gums, she launched herself at me. Isidor leapt at the same time as Kayla and dragged her out of the air.

Wrapping his arms about her, Isidor screamed, “Help me, Kiera!”

Kayla kicked and clawed at Isidor, spittle flying from her fangs as she fought against Isidor who tried to restrain her. “I can’t hold her for much longer!”

Seeing the desperation in his eyes, I raced towards him and pinned Kayla’s arms to her sides.

“
Get the fuck off me!”
she screamed with uncontrollable rage. Then she snapped her head forward as if to take a bite out of my face. Jerking backwards, I felt the spit from her fangs spatter against my face, and it burned like acid.

“Kayla!” I screamed back at her. “Calm down!”

“I’m thirsty!” she screeched, and her eyes rolled back, revealing the whites.