Blood Thirst

by Lena Hillbrand

  “Oh.”

  “So, Cali, you got any special skills?”

  “Um…not really. I’m pretty good at gardening.”

  “That’s a very useful skill. And you’re pretty, which some of our folks would call a skill.”

  Cali smiled and looked away. She didn’t know what to say. She sort of wanted to talk to the man who’d rescued her, but she didn’t think now was the right time. She was stinky and hot and exhausted. “So how long have you lived out here?” she asked.

  “Only a few years. Where you from? Not here, seeing as how you don’t know what a tree is.”

  Cali tried not to show her embarrassment. “Um, no. I just got bought last winter, I guess you’d call it, when there was snow? Before that I lived where there were no trees. Or winters.”

  “In a city?”

  “Yeah. It was always warm there. No snow.”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll learn to survive. I came from a place like that, a city called Texas. My master came here every winter.”

  “Do you help everyone escape?”

  He laughed, and Cali noticed that his front teeth overlapped a little, which she liked. It made him look silly when he smiled, instead of all burly and tough. “Since I came here, yes,” he said. “I’m good at it. And we like to increase the community’s population. Usually we do it naturally, by having babies. But for some reason the women haven’t survived as well as the men, and the babies have been boys for a long time now, so we’re kind of running short of suitable mates. It’s good that you and Terry and Maryanne could join us.”

  “The other girl?”

  He nodded. “You’ll all do well. There are plenty of men who would like a wife and have houses already or can build one. How old are you?”

  “Sixteen.”

  “Good, you’re of marrying age.”

  “So, I’ll be expected to marry right away and have a baby? Is that it?” What was it with the whole world wanting babies, babies, babies?

  “Well, yes. Why wouldn’t you want to?”

  “I don’t know. No reason, I guess. Are you married?”

  “Not yet. There’s only one female in our community of eligible age, and she’s…she hasn’t been able to have a baby yet. She had a husband, but since she couldn’t produce a child…” Herman shrugged. “He chose to break the union. Another girl will be fifteen next month, but she’s already chosen a match.”

  “I see. What if I don’t choose?”

  “You will. There are lots of good men there.” Herman walked in silence for a minute, frowning. “And some that aren’t so good. You’ll want a good one, if only to keep the others away. You’re an attractive girl. Some of the men get…impatient.”

  “What if I chose you?” Cali asked. Might as well get it out there. She thought she’d gotten away from the forced-breeding program, but apparently not. She wasn’t sure what kind of freedom this was. It didn’t sound like the one she’d imagined. But this man seemed nice enough, and obviously strong enough to defend her, if a bit harsh. And he could read.

  “I’d be flattered, obviously,” he said, smiling at her. “However, I’m away more than the other men, since I run the escape route. My job is more dangerous than the others. I wouldn’t want to leave you defenseless with children if something happened to me. You’d have to choose an alternate, in case I got killed.”

  “Wow. That’s…grim.”

  “I’m only telling you so you can choose wisely.”

  “Okay then.”

  “As much as I’d like to talk with you all day, the others might get mad.”

  “Why?”

  “They want to meet you, too. We have an unfair advantage, coming to meet you before the other men have a chance.” Herman grinned. “We make the most of it.”

  “Hey, Herm, quit hogging the newbies,” another blonde man—the youngish one—said. Cali had noticed him listening to their conversation for a minute. Herman smiled at Cali and dropped back to take the baby from Terry.

  “The name’s Larry,” the man said, looking Cali up and down. “What’s yours?”

  “Cali.”

  “It’s sure nice to meet you. You’re the best looking thing I seen in ages.”

  “Um, thanks?”

  “You’re welcome. So you got any questions about us?”

  “Um…I don’t know.” Cali thought a few seconds and then asked, “Where will I live until I get married?”

  “Heck, you can live with us. I reckon my sister would love you something fierce. And our Pappy just died, so we got some extra space.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Yup, he was out killing a bloodsucker and it got him. You know the grossest part? After he’d been dead near half a day, another one got hold of him and sucked him dry.”

  “Holy sap crap. I mean, wow. I thought you were safe from them.”

  “We are, out in the community. But sometimes we gets one on the road or thereabouts. Happens every so often. We see one in the area, we gotta kill it to keep it from going back and getting the rest of us.”

  “Uh huh. So you live with your sister?”

  “Yup, and my mama, she’s back there talking to Michael. She don’t usually come, but I reckon they felt bad cause of Pappy, so they brought her along to keep her busy. And my uncle lives with us sometimes. He’ll take a shine to you, too, I reckon.”

  “He’s not married, either?”

  “Well, I reckon he still is, but it don’t stop him from flirting with the girls. Hey, if you didn’t want to live with us, I bet you anything you could stay with my aunt. It’s just her and my cousin, she’s eight. Herman lives there too, just to have a man around in case of a bloodsucker or whatnot coming around. We done built three new houses this summer, too, with everybody helping, so we gotta decide who gets to live there. Most likely if you and Maryanne and Terry wanna pick husbands, and one of them don’t have a house, he’ll get it. Like me, since I ain’t got a place for you to live, if you pick me.”

  “This is all so much,” Cali said. She’d always imagined running away, but she’d spent awfully little time thinking about what she’d do if she ever made it to freedom.

  “It’s great, ain’t it?”

  Yeah, great. She’d thought she’d be gathering berries in the woods and sleeping on the ground. Now she had a whole free community, full of reading humans, to go to. It sounded great, most of it. She only wished Shelly had come. They could say they were already married, and no one would have to know about him liking boys. She’d just be a girl who couldn’t have a baby, and whose husband didn’t leave her because of it. They could’ve had a garden and helped out and it would have been perfect.

  Oh well. Herman seemed pretty okay. And Larry, too.

  “So, how old is your sister?” Cali asked after a time.

  “She’s twenty-eight. You’ll like her, she’s real nice. Ain’t much to look at, but she’s as good a worker as any man around. And she loves animals, and people, too. One time we got a deer and found it done had a fawn, and she raised up the fawn so it wouldn’t die, ‘til it runned away one day. Anyway, you’d like her.”

  “And her husband lives with you, too?”

  “No, she ain’t married. Can’t have no babies, it don’t look like.”

  “Oh, yeah. Herman told me about her.”

  “Well hell, what’s he stealing my stories for? Hey, if I tell you a secret, can you keep it to yourself?”

  “Sure, of course.”

  “We got something planned for you at your introducing ceremony tomorrow. You come in, and we’re gonna let you meet everybody and see our community. Then we’re gonna bury a bloodsucker.”

  “Whoa. What?” The thought of killing a Superior shocked Cali a little. Not that she loved them or anything, but still. They were people, and she’d never even known a human who got murdered. And weren’t Superiors invincible, anyway?

  “Yeah, me and my sister, we was out in the woods one day last winter when we found one of them just sle
eping in the ground. We drug it back and kept it, you know, testing to see what-all killed them. But it ain’t died yet, so tomorrow we’re gonna have a big burying ceremony.”

  “Oh, wow. How’d you kill her?”

  “It’s a he-bloodsucker. And we ain’t kilt it yet. Gonna see if a year in the ground’ll kill it.”

  Cali shivered. “You’re burying him alive?” She wanted to be free of Superiors, but she didn’t want to go around killing them. And the thought of getting buried alive made her want to scream.

  “Ain’t it great? We do all kinds of cool stuff out there. Hey, did you know they don’t burn up in the sunlight? They don’t do nothing, not bursting into flame or smoking or turning to dust or nothing like that.”

  “Well, yeah. Of course they don’t.”

  “Oh.” Larry looked disappointed, but after a second he brightened again. “I reckon you know a whole lot about bloodsuckers, huh? I ain’t never touched one before this’un. They all the same?”

  “I don’t know, I guess. Not really, though. No more than we’re all the same.”

  “Huh.” Larry thought about this a minute. “Well, anyway, don’t tell nobody I told you about him. It’s supposed to be a surprise for y’all. We ain’t had newbies for a year now. Last year Herman got six new ones. But three of them were kids, so it weren’t that exciting.”

  Just then Larry saw an opening with Maryanne and went to talk to her. When he left her alone, Cali was relieved. She didn’t have the energy to even talk. But the next minute the elder came up.

  “Welcome to our community,” he said.

  “Thanks. You looking for a wife, too?”

  “No, I’m married. Just meeting the newest arrivals.”

  “Thank goodness.”

  “You can’t blame them. They’re ready for wives, and there are no women to marry.”

  “What about Larry’s sister?”

  “Yes, but she can’t have a child.”

  “So, she’s just what? A throw-away?”

  “No, but every couple must have a child. It’s the rules of the community, from the very first people to settle there. I’m one of the first three.”

  “Yeah, but she can’t have a baby.”

  “So her husband must father a child elsewhere, and then he can marry her.”

  All these rules piled up in Cali’s head, and she couldn’t think what to say. There was so much to learn that she’d never even imagined.

  “I’m sure she’ll marry soon,” the man said. “Herman has shown an interest in her.”

  Well, there went her chance at Herman. “And she wants to marry him?”

  “He’s around her age and able-bodied. She’d make a good wife, and could do a man’s work when he’s absent. They make a good match.”

  “Do they like each other?”

  The elder smiled indulgently. “Of course. We all get along very well.”

  “So what about Terry? She’s already married.”

  “She’ll find another match, I’m sure.”

  “But Herman said he’d go back for Martin.”

  “You’re very naïve. I’m sure Martin is dead by now. And it would be too risky to return to the same spot.”

  “So she’ll have to marry again and have another baby?”

  “A first baby is necessary. What a couple chooses after this is their affair, not ours. We encourage growth, of course. Have you had children, Cali?”

  “Oh, no. Not yet.”

  “That’s fine. You will.”

  “What’s that thing?” Cali asked, pointing to the metal stick on the man’s shoulder.

  “This? It’s a shotgun, of course. You’ve never seen one?”

  Cali shook her head. She was glad to talk about something other than babies.

  “Right, of course you haven’t. I forget how ignorant we were when we were in captivity. Your husband will teach you how to use this. It’s a valuable weapon against animals as well as bloodsuckers.”

  “Do a lot of them come out here?”

  “Not a lot. But if we see one alone, we strike fast. They’re quick, but we’re well armed. Don’t worry, you’ll learn to protect yourself. Do you find any of the men here to your liking?”

  There it was again. Always this same thing.

  “Herman seems nice. Larry’s okay.”

  “Herman is my first son. We’d be glad to have you in our family. And glad to have a productive partner for him.”

  “But I thought Herman had only been with you for a few years.”

  “He has. You’ll learn all about our rules and customs later. Herman is a good man, though. We’d be honored to have another member in our family.”

  Cali managed to steer away from the other men. She thought about all she’d heard and learned. In her exhausted state it was enough to overwhelm her.

  When they had walked until nearly evening, they arrived at the inner safe zone. Almost forgetting her exhaustion for the first time since morning, Cali took in everything around them. She’d seen lots of the big city she came from, but it was alive. This one had collapsing buildings, broken windows, piles of rubble everywhere. And over all of it, an aura of decay lay with the layer of dusty grime and dirt over everything. Nothing new and shiny here, no moving pictures on the sides of buildings or pretty cars driving around or Superiors rushing in and out of buildings. It looked grey and desolate, and for some reason it scared her a little. The town looked expectant, like it had been waiting for them. It watched their arrival from the unblinking eyes of glass-less windows.

  The men from the community didn’t seem to feel as safe as they wanted the newcomers to feel. They paced with their weapons, and when twilight fell, they brought the whole group into a dusty room in one of the better buildings to sleep and eat. They stood guard while everyone had a turn to relieve themselves outside. Back in the big room, everyone started nodding off immediately. The journey had tired them all, and no one had much to say.

  Cali ate her dry soybean cake, drank her water, and looked around for a spot to sleep. The room was empty except for a worn red cloth covering the entire slanted floor. Cali looked for Herman, but he stood guard at the door to the room while an elder guarded the front door of the building. Cali lay down next to Larry’s mama, thinking she’d never sleep with all the thoughts rolling around in her head, the excitement and the vague fear of getting caught that still lingered. She’d made it further than she’d ever gotten in her attempts at escape, but with all the security, it seemed far from a safe zone. She felt safer at home in her bedroll next to Shelly. For a minute she lay thinking about him, but soon she slept.

  44

  Sally was sweating already and she’d just started digging. Hard work nearly always made her sweat like a sow, and tonight weren’t no different. The air cooled off fast, though, now that the sun was going down. She reckoned the light would linger for at least an hour so she could see to work. Too bad she was sore already from digging a grave earlier.

  Now she’d started up thinking about Angela again. It’d been a bunch of years, but she still thought about her sister near every day. Sometimes, when she weren’t quite sure what to do, Sally would ask herself what Angela would’ve done.

  She thought about the poor bloodsucker they’d buried alive, too. She knew she ought to have stopped them—Angela would’ve—but she weren’t the most quick-thinking person she knew. Besides, from what Draven had told her, it wouldn’t be so bad for him. Least nobody would bother him, and he couldn’t smother or nothing, since he could stop breathing any old time he got the notion to. Maybe getting buried was peaceful-like for them. Sally had read somewhere that they slept in coffins, though she didn’t put much stock in that notion. Seemed Draven slept just fine in the shed.

  Draven had said Angela would’ve been for sure dead when they found her, that her boy hadn’t made her into a bloodsucker or one of them other things. Sally couldn’t remember what he’d called it, but it hadn’t sounded pretty. But now she got to thinking about i
t. What did he know, anyway? He weren’t even sure how to make her into a bloodsucker. How would he know if someone had made her sister into one? He hadn’t been there. Maybe Angela had only looked dead. Whenever Sally had seen Draven sleeping, he looked pretty dang dead. No breathing, no heartbeat.

  Had they checked anything else on Angela?

  They’d checked her for bite marks and found none. They hadn’t checked her teeth or nothing. And if she lived out there somewhere as a bloodsucker but was afeared to come around because she might get staked…well, Sally aimed to find out. She could even get Draven to make her into a bloodsucker and go live with her sister. But she couldn’t do that just yet, without knowing if her sister had lived or died.

  She had a lot on her mind tonight. The whole lot who’d gone to the abandoned town would come back in the morning, and Larry had said they were bringing back some new folks to join the community. Three new folks. New folks always brought interesting stories about lives that Sally couldn’t imagine. Sometimes they sounded real awful, but sometimes they didn’t sound so bad at all. One man had told her brother that he liked getting bit by his master.

  Sally could just about see how that could happen. She didn’t like the thought of a bloodsucker biting on her any old time he got hungry, but it hadn’t felt too bad with Draven. Not that she liked it, but she liked feeling like she done somebody good, even if it were just a bloodsucker. The scary thing about it was not knowing if he’d stop when she asked, knowing he could kill her like one of them bears the Henson’s fed before it up and attacked them, after all they done for it.

  Sally stopped and wiped her forehead on her arm. She weren’t wearing long sleeves, but the mosquitoes stayed away on account of a nice cool breeze that had sprung up. It was getting on that time of year when she’d start noticing the days getting shorter pretty soon. Even in the hot part of summer, she could always tell when it started going down towards fall, and right on the heels of that the dang snow would come again.

  She picked up her favorite shovel and resumed her digging. She’d left this very shovel out last winter after digging out some snow by the woodshed. That bloodsucker got this very shovel, the one she’d been looking for when she found his tracks in the woods. This got her thinking about all the little things that’d brung about changes in their lives. If she hadn’t left this-here shovel out, she’d never have gone looking for it, never have found tracks in the woods, never have followed them and found Draven. They never would have had him in the shed for near six months and never would have buried him in the ground, and she’d never have known the thing that got Angela weren’t a bloodsucker, or that maybe Angela weren’t dead at all but lying in her grave waiting to be freed.