by Brown, Wayne
“Where the hell did you get this Chevy from?” Asher asked.
“Well, the owner was very kind enough to let me have it for a while, and by the way, the owner is also in the back!” Nelkon stated.
Asher looked at him surprised. A smirk crossed his face as he looked on ahead into the road. Not knowing much about the road network and in an effort to avoid running into the police, they simply drove though obscure streets into the same part of town where they had entered the town from the night before.
On getting there, they each carried one of the bodies and followed the path into the woods same way they came. They walked and sometimes ran for a while without stopping even with the weight of the bodies weighing on them. They made a stop only once to rest and after a thirty minutes rest, they continued till they got back to the cave. It was early hours of the day when they arrived at the cave. They found that some stranger or strangers had been in their home. They were astonished to even know that someone else could’ve known about their secret hideout. Asher’s compass, wallet, work-boot and other tools were missing. These were tools he used at work before the night on which he was converted. They knew they had to move. They however had to figure where to. It had to be as soon as possible though and carrying the trio from Edinbur was one task.
“Let us wait till later tonight, suggested Nelkon.
Chapter 4
Upon Dr Lenzo and his team’s arrival at the research facility, Dr Mabel was most happy, but also sad when he saw his friend. He felt bad knowing what this operation had almost cost his friend and long time partner his life. However, Lenzo did nothing to depress him. Dr Lenzo was more optimistic and glad than the last time they met. They brought the vampire in, still in his cage, being wheeled in on something resembling a large stretcher. Dr Mabel was excited by then, and kept circling around the cage, snapping pictures and noting features he could see and his possible explanations for them. He was at last getting a chance to work with a live vampire specimen. He had many questions and he was sure going to get all the answers. He had many tests to run and this was surely one of the very rare chances he will get. He however attended to Dr Lenzo first. After running a series of test for any trace of the Human Vampirism Virus, HVV responsible for Vampirism, Mabel certified that Lenzo was completely clean much to the relief of everybody.
He took time to extensively treat his wounds on his hand as well. The vampire was almost fully recovered by then and as it came to full awareness of its captivity, it began to struggle, exerting its strength against the cage’s iron rods much to the surprise of Dr. Mabel. He had earlier ascertained that this vampire was rather very old from its looks. It must have lived 300+ years at least but its strength was immense compared to what he had expected it to be.
“You said you got it down and the rest fled without coming to its rescue? He asked Lenzo who was standing by his side.
Lenzo nodded in affirmation.
“Then he must be the alpha of the clan. Otherwise, if there was another alpha, it would have been the one to lead an attack on your team to rescue the fledgling,” he further stated.
He got a medicine which acted as a tranquilizer and putting the shot in a stun gun, shot it to the base of the vampire’s neck. He shrieked out, and some minutes later, the alpha male was totally knocked out cold. Lenzo received a call from his team back at the construction camp. He was surprised to know it was morning already as he had not known having been in a UV light protected room all along. They needed his permission to embark on a manhunt for the vampires who should be restricted in their daytime movements since the sun had risen. He gave them the go ahead. At the end of the call he went back to the table.
The Research lab which was modern in all essence of the word, “modern”, painted a grey metallic color with gas pipes leading into the equipments that used those gas supplies. There was an ultra-modern body scanner to the east of the room by the wall. Beside it was a cupboard that held surgical tools and gadgets. There was also a photocopier standing in the corner of that side of the wall. Adjacent to the south end of this wall was a microscope on a microscopic examination table and a computer system dedicated to related research. In the middle of the theatre was a surgical table but one with straps on it to hold a subject to be examined firmly in place onto the table. That specific table had been there since Dr Mabel resumed as head at this research facility.
The facility’s records showed that the last time that bed was used was some fifteen years ago which was when they brought in a dying vampire that had attempted suicide by hanging itself up in a tree out in the boiling sun. Up to this present day, they still haven’t figured out why a vampire would do this to themselves. That was the closest they had come to having a live vampire for research albeit then a dying one. The hunters were at first hesitant to do Dr. Mabel’s bidding, reasonably so in view of the possibility that the vampire may only be feigning sleep. He grabbed the key from around the neck of one of the hunters and unlocked the cage. They were all thrown aback by his boldness. Well, they figured why not. The cage door was now ajar and the vampire still lay their rather lifelessly. Mabel was surely confident in his science.
“A bunch of wussies,” he said to them, laughing.
Holding the vampire by the arm, he noted how cold its body was, and he dragged it out and nodded to them to give him a helping hand. They joined hands and laid it on the table. They affixed the leather straps on, holding the vampire securely to the table. A strong leather strap was even affixed around its neck. Mabel opened its jaw to expose a set of brown teeth and prominent eyeteeth. He wondered how these grew to such length and shape and also kept in sharp condition. Its fingernails and toenails intrigued him. They were long and thick. They then pushed the specimen towards the ultrasound machine to study the internal features of its body. Using ultrasound imagery, Mabel and Lenzo monitored the brain waves of their specimen. They found it to be a lot different from a human’s. They found that its brain had very low levels of serotonin activity. Serotonin acts as an inhibitor against violent, impulsive and aggressive behavior. These very low levels might explain why they were always eager for the kill and had such aggressive instincts. Further examination of other parts of its body showed a more developed skeletal stricture, muscle and joint system over that of a human’s. About ninety percent of its muscles were of the fast-twitch type as opposed to fifty percent of such found in humans. The fast-twitch muscles were ideal for short maximal energy bursts veritable in capturing prey. As if not enough, added to this, unlike the normal fast-twitch muscles found in humans, theirs had a drastically increased mitochondria which had the ability to make their fast-twitch muscles withhold fatigue and as such could hold out longer in any prolonged activity. In other words, they creatures don’t tire as easily as a puny human being. With these features, they were in fact very good hunting and killing machine.
After the intriguing revelations they had with the ultrasound device, they went on to take a sample of its blood for examination. Its blood which was a blackish wine red looked nothing like real human blood. They tested it, running a number of tests, first to find out its make-up and possibly what functions its constituents performed in its circulatory system. Their first discovery was that its blood had very high levels of iron. This Dr Lenzo reiterated would be because they fed exclusively on human blood which was high in iron. This also explained the very reason they had the ability to heal fast because a blood high in iron content will no doubt carry more oxygen aiding clotting and in turn healing. They were yet looking at this on the microscope when one of the hunters called out to them.
“Hey guys, come over here…his arm is twitching”, he called out.
They quickly stood and made towards the table. Truthfully, his bicep was twitching but there was no sign of alertness from the vampire, not even when they shook him. Mabel went over the other side and just as he suspected, the same thing was also happening at the other hand. He had a suspicion which he had yet to confirm. He took out a measurin
g device to ascertain the heart rate of the vampire but was surprised to record next to nothing at all as the BPM. It was below ten.
“How on God’s green earth could they live without almost any heartbeat?” Mabel said out loudly.
Then Dr. Lenzo took his time to explain.
“They are always like that. Some years ago, many a vampire that just got converted by infection of the virus, was buried alive; mistaken for dead due to the absence of a noticeable heartbeat and its very low pulse. This was during the period of coma in which the transformation process into a vampire takes place.” he stated.
“Then they must have some other means of circulating blood around their body because this pulse that I see here, I am sure cannot do for his whole body,” Mabel reinstated.
“Well I’ll be damned. That had to be it” Lenzo exclaimed.
In answering the puzzled questioning look on Mabel’s face, he now went on to explain.
“The other mode known to man other than a circulatory system solely powered by the heart was fasciculation. Circulation in this system is carried out by contraction of skeletal muscles especially those of the limbs rather than the heart itself,” he said.
They quickly added up the facts. It was the pulsating of the arms which they had noticed earlier in the Alpha male that served the purpose which had for long left many without a clue. Just then, Lenzo’s phone rang. He picked it up and the voice of the man he left in command of the team at Altraco Construction greeted him. He relayed to him their discovery at the cave. It seemed the vampires had left.
“ Trace the bastards with the dogs then, said Lenzo.
“I’m sorry, we tried that already Sir but beyond the stream, the dogs seem to have lost trail of their scent.”
“ Oh …..alright then….fuck it. You can return to the workers and stay with them. I will be back soon to see things for myself.”
With that Lenzo ended the call.
It was some hours past noon. They stopped and decided to go for lunch. Lenzo was surprised to find that his colleagues had excused themselves for a break without him noticing. As they both left the lab, they locked up and went into a restaurant that served Chinese. They settled down and waited for the waiter so as to place their orders. A tiny voice from behind Mabel which was certainly that of a waitress they both knew greeted Dr. Lenzo but that was just before she spotted Lenzo’s heavily bandaged left arm. She was shocked. Lenzo explained briefly stated how he had been involved in an accident earlier in the day. She expressed her sympathy before going on to greet Dr. Mabel. She then went on to take their orders. They settled to their meal and for most of the meal remained silent, only the clatter of fork and knifes against the earthen plate disrupted the silence in their corner. Mabel finished with his meal before Lenzo. He was surprised because Lenzo was usually hurried with his meals and always finished ahead of him. He realized early enough before he blurted that out that his friend was now disadvantaged, having only one useful hand presently to use. For a moment sadness returned to his face as he came to the reality of what his friend had to live with now.
“ I hope he doesn’t lose him arm,” Mabel though to himself.
He however shoved these thoughts down and brought up what he wanted to talk to Lenzo about. He told him of how he had earlier alerted the state security agency before their arrival as he had instructed.
“They should be here soon. There is however something I wanted to talk to you about. There is this serum that we at the Research Institute have been working on. It has gone on for long without producing much of the desired result but in the past one year, a couple of things have been falling into place as regards to this research. This serum now serves its purpose, regenerating dead cells and has been tested with success on small mammals; we are however yet to test it on larger mammals.”
“That’s good to know…by the way, whose project is this anyways?” Lenzo answered.
“The state, though its classified information,” Mabel hushed.
They soon left the restaurant for the lab. They were expecting a team of other professionals in the field, most of who they had worked with before then to join them soon. When they got back to the lab, the vampire was already awake as indicated by the awareness indicator. It however feigned sleep. Mabel who had noticed this, took a spike and struck it in its ribcage. The creature tried to lunge at him, but was held securely in place by the thick leather straps. Mabel went and got one copy of research agency’s manual used as a questionnaire guide from a cupboard drawer. He seated himself closely and switched on the overhead cam and began interviewing the vampire.
“What is your name?” Mabel asked the vampire.
The alpha male looked at him and then turned a straight face back to the ceiling; refusing to answer that question.
“ Hmmmm…. I see …. I take it that you have forgotten your name then,” Dr Mabel said.
“Do you have any memories of your past life as a human being? Mabel asked.
“Yes” he answered with a seemingly soft voice for such a monstrosity.
“Any relatives, family or friends?” he further asked.
“That was a long time ago,” he replied.
Mabel took a note of that also. Dr Lenzo, hand heavily bandaged, was rather intrigued.
“ How old are you?” Mabel continued to ask.
“ As old as your mother!” the vampire replied, laughing to himself.
“ Oh, really now …a smart ass. Well we shall see who will have the last laugh here!” Dr Mabel replied.
Before he could ask anymore questions, they soon they heard the sound of an approaching helicopter. It seems to remain over their roof , hovering loudly. Dr Lenzo went up to the helipad on the roof to welcome them. He exchanged greetings with them, they expressing their sympathy about the unfortunate incident that led to the injury of his hand. Lenzo being the jolly happy man he was, told them he was at least happy to be yet living as a human rather than a vampire.
“I would have been a lot of problem for you guys with all I know if I had ever turned into one of those ugly blood thirsty motherfuckers!” Dr Lenzo said while laughing.
They all laughed at what he said, but they very well knew there was some truth to what he was saying. He led them down the manhole and through the staircase leading into the room in which Dr Mabel was. He was so very much concentrating on the replies and reactions he was getting from the vampire that he was startled by the shuffling of feet as they entered the lab. He paused for a moment and rolling around on the revolving chair welcomed his colleagues who immediately made haste to get around the table on seeing the vampire. They all kept quiet as Mabel asked a few more questions.
“ Enough of this bullshit questioning….I want to sleep,” said the vampire.
Mabel was pissed by what it said.
“ Oh so you intend to sleep huh? Well don’t let me change my mind and put you into a permanent sleep state you hear me!” Dr Mabel said angrily.
At this the vampire recoiled staring with pity into Mabel’s eyes. Mabel walked out with two of the officers from the state security service to have a word. They gave him specific instructions from the President and handed some written documents to that effect to him. The President had ordered that the vampire be kept alive by every means possible. He had also directed that they extract every piece of information possible from the vampire to better arm the state for future attacks. They returned to the lab and went on to carry out a whole lot of other tests on their specimen’s blood with the help of the many additional hands that were now available.
By evening they made a couple of other discoveries. They found that the chemical changes that occur in the brain to help humans rise and shine in the morning was reversed in vampires. This explains their dominant period of activity was during nightfall.
As darkness set in, the vampire became restless. It was rustling around and struggling to get itself loose. Whenever they looked at it, it would stop. They had been monitoring it since the night before
when it had been brought in. It had not fed since then. They wanted to know for how long the vampire could go before it felt the need to feed again. Its restlessness was probably from a need to hunt. Mabel injected it with a sleep inducing drug. Some men brought in an observation chamber. Mabel carried out a very short surgery, implanting a small chip which was to monitor brain chemical activity. He stitched the cut he made and was unrolling the bandages for sealing the wound on the creature’s head when he noticed that the lines of the cut were already clotted.
“There goes that marvelous healing power,” Dr Mabel said to himself.
