The boy behind the wheel leaned past his partner’s head. “Really? Who’s dead?” he asked.
“A few people” Hugh drew the pistol from his pocket but kept it below the window sill of the truck. To the boys it looked as if he merely had taken his hand from his pocket. “A hooker and her pimp, a meddling old woman, some lady on the street.” With that Hugh raised the gun into the window, “and two boys too stupid to know what’s going on around them.” The youth behind the wheel stared wide-eyes at the pistol. He grabbed the stick shift, pulled it towards him and shoved it up into first gear just as Hugh shot him in the face. The other youth screamed and pushed open the door, knocking Hugh back. The now dead driver’s foot came off the clutch and gas at the same time and the truck lurched forward several feet before stalling. As the boy turned to run, Hugh shot him in the back twice. He quickly entered the truck from the still-open passenger door and slid across the bench seat. He worked the handle on the driver’s door and shoved the dead boy out onto the pavement. Hugh pushed the clutch in, started the truck and peeled away from the new crime scene. The stereo blasted in Hugh’s ears. As he tried to turn at the next corner, he fumbled with the radio, finally getting it turned off.
Hugh let out a sigh of relief; now he had transportation and by the time the authorities realized he had a vehicle, he would be out of town and on his way. He glanced down at the dashboard as he continued down the street- the fuel gage was down hovering near empty. Even the low fuel light was on. He was half tempted to stop the truck and back over the two ill-prepared teens in the road. He fought the urge and headed out of town. Within two blocks of the edge of town, he had attracted the attention of a police officer. The cruiser flashed its lights and warbled his siren at Hugh. Dutifully, Hugh pulled to the side of the road and stopped. He rolled down his window as the officer exited her vehicle. The snowfall had picked up and he could hear the officer’s feet crunch in the newly fallen snow as he approached the truck. It began to drift into the cab of the truck as the officer made her way slowly and carefully. Hugh kept one hand on the wheel, his other was down at his side by the stick shift, pistol at the ready.
“Excuse me, sir” began the police officer. Hugh turned and shot the woman in the face. He dropped the gun on the seat next to him and sped off. It was two blocks to the edge of town and potential escape. Another siren warbled behind him as he cleared the welcome sign at the edge of town. Hugh fishtailed down the road as he picked up speed. The police car kept up with him as he went. Hugh knew that by now it had radioed for backup.
The falling snow made it difficult to determine where the road’s edges were and several times, Hugh found himself bouncing along the frozen earth as opposed to the road. Finally, he wandered far enough off the road he was unable to tell where it was. Hugh floored the truck and angled it toward the forest that was a short distance from the road. For a moment, he felt as if he were back in Jamestown. He hoped the outcome would be as successful.
Suddenly, the truck hit a concealed log and left the ground, with a bone jarring crunch, it crashed back to earth. Hugh fought to keep the wheel straight as the rear end flew out to one side. Barely in control of the truck, Hugh fought his way deeper into the forest and now going more and more uphill. Hugh knew that he was heading towards an outcropping- a sheer dead end with a glacier at the bottom. The police car had fallen behind but was not completely out of the chase. It was only a matter of time until the four wheeled law enforcement vehicles- as well as snowmobiles- joined in. Hugh was looking in his rearview mirror as the front corner of the truck clipped a tree. Stopping his forward momentum on that leading edge of the truck, the rear end spun around viciously and the engine stalled. Without trying to restart it, Hugh grabbed his suitcase and jumped from the truck. The outcropping was less than one hundred yards ahead of him, and beyond that a chasm well over twice that in depth. Still, it was the only way to go so Hugh plodded along. Interestingly, snow did not cause the same strength-sapping effect as running water. Hugh did not ponder the effect long as he popped out of the forest and was face to face with the gaping chasm. Below was a craggy bottom that extended well into the permafrost.
Hugh turned on the edge of the cliff and ran uphill away from the sound of the police car’s siren, suitcase tucked under his arm. It was getting fainter and fainter as he went. Hugh smiled to himself as the night was suddenly filled with the angry hornet sounds that meant that at least one snowmobile had arrived and joined in the chase. Contrary to the siren, this sound grew in loudness quickly. Hugh continued his sprint as the din of the snowmobile was joined by the rapport of a hunting rifle. Suddenly, Hugh was spun to the side as a bullet slammed home into his shoulder. It struck his shoulder blade and threw him around. Hugh lost his footing and careened over the edge.
The officer who shot him arrived to where Hugh’s tracks ended at the edge of the cliff. He dismounted from the snowmobile as his partner arrived on a similar vehicle. “He went over?” shouted the officer over the sound of his engine.
The first officer nodded. “Yep, he went Peter Pan right here.”
The second dismounted and joined his partner in looking over the edge. Almost three hundred feet down, the ground was cracked and jagged as the glacier below pushed against the mountainside. “So much for him.” The officer took a moment to spit over the side and watch the globule disappear from sight. “Case closed.” With that, the two remounted their snowmobiles and left.
xi
Hugh fell in open space, wind rushing past him as he gained speed. He tucked himself into a ball, suitcase clutched tightly to his chest, and braced for the inevitable impact. He clutched his legs as tightly as he could. The only thing he could do to mitigate his injuries was to make sure that all his limbs were still attached when he landed. He had never lost a limb and was unsure if it would grow back or just heal over the wound. It was not something he wanted to ever put to the test. Hugh exhaled completely and shut his eyes tight as he fell. As he went, he rotated uncontrolled. Absently he wondered if landing on his shins would be better than landing on his back. Hugh’s downward path took him between two massive walls of ice, falling an additional fifty feet into the slow moving river of ice. As he crashed into the glacier – shins down- blackness enveloped him.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hugh awoke with a start. It was daylight and the glacier was aglow. Panicking, Hugh flailed his arms around; they moved easily. Nothing seemed to be broken. Hugh flexed his hands and examined them. They were pale and pink but fully functioning. His legs also passed the same examination. Hugh sat up in his small ice cave and discovered he was in a pool of water. He looked about and noticed that along with it being awash with light, he was, inexplicably, naked. Unable to determine the time of day, Hugh was forced to sit in his melting cave and hope that the sun set before the top of his cocoon of ice broke open and spilled lethal daylight in. Water dripped onto him almost constantly. Finally, the sun seemed to lose its strength and the blue-glow of the cave faded. Once it was dark, Hugh stood and pushed on the top of the cave. Only inches thick, it gave way easily. Another day and his savior cave would have been his coffin.
Hugh crawled out of the cave and looked around. The landscape seemed vaguely familiar; trees on one side and a mountain on the other. He looked up and decided that it was more a hill- less than fifty feet to the top. Strange. When he fell it was definitely longer than a fifty foot drop. Hugh moved to the hill, which was grass covered and although steep, did not seem steep enough to have been the one he fell down. Very strange.
Hugh returned to the ice cave and gathered up the coins he could find- there were only about twenty. Clutching them to his abdomen, he jumped out of the cave and began to walk back up the hill. When he reached the top, Hugh looked around. He was, as expected, surrounded by forest. The ground had patches of snow here and there; the spring thaws were in full force
That meant he had been in the ice cave for almost t
wo months. Or maybe fourteen? Either was plenty of time for any manhunt to have gone cold. Acquiring clothes as a hapless robbed tourist would be quick and easy. Hugh turned towards town and began walking. With any luck, a passerby would pick up the severely underdressed Hugh- or at least toss him a blanket. Hugh continued down the hill as the forest came alive- birds were chirping and several times he heard the rustling of ground creatures moving about. Finally, to his relief, Hugh exited the forest. As he got to its edge, he selected a tree and dropped to his knees. Using his hands, he dug a shallow hole and dropped the coins in. Carefully he covered them back up. It would be easier to portray a down-on-his-luck tourist without a fortune of gold coins clearly visible. Hugh stood and took one of the larger branches in his hands. With a tug, it broke off, leaving a jagged stump sticking out of the tree. “The First Federal Bank of Hugh”, he said aloud. He turned and looked down the other side of the hill.
The road would be a mere hundred yards away and with the thaws going on, it would be well traveled. Success. The moon peeked out from the horizon and Hugh’s eyes began to take in more forested patches below him. He could not see the road. Undaunted, Hugh moved down the hill at a jog towards the road. As he reached the bottom of the hill, he was greeted by grass instead of asphalt. Disturbingly strange.
A loud horn blast tore through the night air behind him. A car horn? Shrugging it off, Hugh continued towards the town- road or not, the town absolutely lay ahead of him. The horn blasted again- this time closer. It was also slightly different from the first. Hugh turned and peered into the night. An annoying cloud had parked itself in front of the Moon. A form approached. Or two forms. Possibly three. The ground shook as they approached. Logging trucks? Again the horn sounded. The road had to be nearby. Hugh moved towards the shapes- help from a trucker was as good as help from anyone else. The three shapes seemed to split twice over. The Moon finally peeked out from behind a cloud as the shapes were a mere thirty feet away. The moonlight splashed over the hulking beasts as they approached. Kodiak? One- the front most- turned its head to the side, Fifteen-foot tusks flashing in the moonlight. Its trunk rose to the sky as it let an ear shattering trumpet sound. Completely in awe, Hugh stood rock still as the hulking, fur covered elephants - fifteen in all- shuffled by. They paid him no mind as he had no smell and obviously no weapon. They had never seen a human such as Hugh. Ever. In fact, none of their ancestors had either in the previous five thousand years.
As the beasts passed, Hugh became aware of another sound; this time clanging. Still standing rock still from awe, he saw a group of people crest the hill. In the darkness he was unable to make out any distinctive characteristics but he could tell they were short- a full head shorter than he. The four in front held spears and one had a longish pole- a rifle perhaps? Two in the rear of the group held pieces of flat metal that they constantly banged together.
The noise was as jarring to him as it was to the fur covered beasts. Hugh’s stomach tightened and a wave of cramps ran through his middle. Hugh smiled wide; his escape been successful after all- but instead of months, it had been millennia to this particular springtime. Or rather, feeding time. Hugh smiled wide, pointed teeth prominent on either side. He took a line from a movie he once saw, about a similarly stranded traveler: “If this is the best they’ve got around here, in six months I'll be running this planet.”
None of the humans rapidly approaching him had ever heard of that particular movie. In fact, no human on the planet had even uttered the word ‘movie’ in over seven thousand years. There was another word they had uttered- often in hushed tones, huddled around protective fires- as recently as the night before.
Wampyre!
End Prologue
Easy Street, Unpaved - A Vampire's Change of Fortune (Hugh- Vampire. Hunter. King.) Page 5
