“I will rip you limb from limb, with my bare hands if you dare speak without permission. Do I make myself clear?”
The man nodded, turning as white as a ghost. Cates dropped him, where he fell into a heap of himself, moaning and rocking back and forth. Jacob and Cates took control of the room while we waited out in the tunnel of the cave. This place was ingenious and more than just well thought out, it was brilliant. I could see a shiny floor as the torch light hit with their passing, as well as long drapes that looked dark blue in color, covered cut out walls. The torch light disappeared and a few minutes later the sound of a small motor started up. Soon after the overhead light, which was a wagon wheel chandelier with six lights, came on showing it went with none of the decor in the entire room. Metal tables lined the wall to the right. Glass shelves, much like the ones in a china hutch, faced us as we walked in the door. There were different colored bottles lining the shelves, which were filled with things from powder, to liquid, to things that looked like grasshoppers.
I was looking for the girls that Freddy had mentioned, but I saw nothing of them anywhere. “Split up. I want those girls found now!” I went over to Freddy and started questioning him, while Jacob worked on the other ones. Derek and Brandon had already tried to find them in the minds of those they’d bitten, but it seemed they never went in. It was the other two that took care in placing the girls inside. I was just about to calm Freddy enough with a bite of my own to get the answers that I needed, when Brandon came running back into the room.
“Found them, they’re hooked up to some kind of little tubes. These guys were sucking all their blood out and draining it into this large glass bottle.”
“Help me drag this piece of shit down there.”
We stormed down the only hall that had been cut out of the belly of the cave. It appeared as if it curved, making the structures shape like the big dipper with small rooms off of its handle. We passed three doors before Brandon stopped running and stepped into one, dragging Freddy the entire way. Jacob came up beside me and dropped the man he was dragging on the floor. I walked in and froze at the sight of the two small girls lying on the silver tables side by side.
Garvin was removing the slender metal piece from the last girl’s arm, by the time I had found the courage to go in further. Both were badly bruised and extremely drugged, with something left by the good doctor himself. I lifted the first girl’s head and asked her name, but she could only moan as her eyes rolled back into her head. Twelve or thirteen my ass, they were more like nine or ten at best.
“What do we do?” I asked, appalled that any normal could do this to one of their own kind for money.
“Leave them near a normals home. Garvin and Sydney can take them back to the boat, tell the men to drop them on Charleston Beach and then return,” Cates said feeling the neck of one of girls. “They are weak, but they will live.”
“I agree, they just seem a little roughed up,” Tammy concurred.
“This night will not pass with us making it back to the boat. We will have to make it back to here, then join the boat tomorrow night,” Jacob added, looking behind the curtains that covered the wall.
“I don’t understand, it’s not even close to midnight yet,” I replied.
“If we wait for Garvin and Sydney to return, it will be much later.”
“Then I guess you better tell the driver of the boat to not run off without us, Garvin.”
“We’ll be quick,” he replied picking up the girl closest to him.”
“Are you sure that I can’t help?” Brandon gallantly asked.
“Better stay with me, Brandon, you can help with these four.” I gave him a little nod at the same time that Jacob did.
I knew that Sydney was a little tenderer when it came to killing, which is the main reason that he and Garvin were chosen. I stood at the opening of the cave, listening to Jacob give his version of my little ones to Cates, and not once did I turn to complain. He was very correct when he told him that Sydney had a hard time with the abnormal, and that Derek was like the jester of a court, and that my mouth was like that of a drunken foul human. Now, I watched as two of my little ones vanished into the night, knowing that I couldn’t argue with the truth. I didn’t know how we were going to burn a place carved out of solid rock, so we had to come up with something else.
“I say we leave their heads on the tip of wooden spikes to show this place to be cursed,” Cates suggested, looking back at them cowering in the corner of the laboratory.
“That’s medieval, Cates,” I argued, shaking my head.
“It worked in my day, it will work now.”
“What? You were some kind of knight? Please Cates, this isn’t then, this is now. After what I’ve witnessed, I don’t think a few heads are going to scare anyone.”
“Maybe not a breeder, but it will certainly put the fear in the next normal who delivers fresh stock,” Jacob added, walking up behind me.
“And to answer your question, yes, I was a knight, a very good one at that.” Then he stormed out of the room.
“Touchy isn’t he? What’s his story anyway?” I smirked.
“His story is not for me to tell, but you must watch your words with him, Renee. I have had time to adjust to your humor, he has not.” Then he too left the room.
Brandon and Derek stood in front of the four that were fixing to die, snickering under their breath at the conversation that I had just had with the “big boys”. The two men who weren’t under the mind control of the boys were looking a little green around the gills; they must have heard what Cates had said. I thought I would use that fear to get more information about this creature called, the doctor.
“I want to ask you a few questions and the answers you give me will depend on whether or not you live or die,” I explained walking closer.
“Please, I’ll tell you anything,” the man said nervously. He was the one that Jacob had brought back in. “This…man that gave us the money, said to bring the girls to the usual place. He said to give them the drug and leave. That, the doctor would take care of the rest.”
“Did you have your way with them? Did he say that you could do that?” I asked, stepping closer pulling up on the hilt of my blade.
“Oh God!” he cried, trying to scoot backwards on his knees.
“I take that as a ‘yes’,” Tammy said and stepped in and shoved her blade into the man’s chest, setting the others into a huge frenzy.
One of the men made a move to run and Derek was on him instantly, as the other two men got to their feet and watched him rip the throat out of the man with perfect ease. He stood up and spit the chunk of flesh back down on the man as the man groped at his throat. He was gasping for breath that would never come, and a sweet sensation of satisfaction came over me. I knew now that I didn’t care if it was normal or breeder that we killed. If they harmed the innocent, we harmed them. That was the way it was going to be. I told the boys to take their fill and then remove the heads as Cates had suggested. It was a hard thing to fathom, but something that I could see working on the next batch of evil doers to darken this cave’s entrance.
CHAPTER TWELVE
We waited what seemed like forever for Garvin and Sydney to return. The heads had been placed around the area by Cates and Jacob, while Tammy and I went through the papers that Brandon had found in a small study which was further down the hall. Derek came in and told us that they were back, so Tammy and I rolled as many of the papers as we could and hid them just in case someone else wanted them before we retuned. This doctor had been trying to find a way to reverse the effects of the blood disorder of the breeders, by using fresh blood of a normal in some type of a transfusion. A very sick individual as far as I could tell from the records we found, and one that needed to be put down—after I found out his progress that is.
When we walked out Jacob was drawing things on the ground while looking back up at a small piece of paper in his hand. “You two will go in here.” Then he paused, turning to
look at us. Cates continued to fiddle with his sword, never once raising his eyes to acknowledge us. Brandon and Derek stepped around me and went to see what Jacob was working on. He continued to explain the area of the lake where we would all be dropped off in pairs, and how we would circle around and meet up at the back of the doctor’s home. He said that there was two ways in; one from the front of the lake and one from the back. Both meeting and making a single line in the dense forest.
“There are others there besides the doctor. I can feel it in my bones,” Cates finally said. “Not sure if it’s Omar, but it’s something to worry about.”
“I feel it too, Renee,” Sydney added. “But it doesn’t feel like breeders.”
“What do you mean, Sydney? Does it feel like a group of normals?” I asked looking out into the night, glad to be out of the brilliant but eerie cave.
He shook his head and said nothing.
“I think the good doctor works with magic, maybe witchcraft,” Cates added stretching his almost seven foot form out. “Can you all not feel the tingling on your skin?”
“I do,” Sydney quickly added. “Feels like bugs crawling all over me.”
“I don’t feel anything,” Derek said, shrugging his shoulders.
“What of you, my…Renee?” Cates asked, learning nicely to use my name.
“I feel nauseated, but that could be from what we just did.”
“Highly unlikely,” Jacob said with a slight grin.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked turning to him.
“It means that I cannot see you becoming squeamish over a little spilled blood, and most certainly not the blood of one who would harm a child.”
“Then, I would say that you are feeling the doctor’s use of witchcraft,” Cates added getting a look from all of us, except Jacob.
“He is one that plays with the dead.” Jacob explained the doctor’s reason behind the witchcraft.
“I’m not going,” Sydney said adamantly. “I thought that was what I saw in my head.”
“What did you see?” I grabbed his arm.
“The walking dead, okay, are you happy, I said it? I saw him raise a dead normal, without breaking a sweat.”
“You failed to see the preparation, young one. You have become a much stronger creature yourself and should not fear the likes of the walking dead,” Cates explained, patting him on the back.
“I think you’ve all lost your mind. There is no such thing as the dead getting up and moving around, it’s a trick, Sydney,” I responded in complete seriousness.
“Brave words coming from someone who just became a bloodbreeder and found a creature with wings. I have seen them with my own eyes, torn them to shreds with these hands. So believe what you will, but do not be surprised when one comes stumbling toward you,” Cates sarcastically replied.
“He speaks the truth, Renee. I have seen them as well.”
“So have I, many times, and every time I was brought here,” Tammy added, lightly touching my shoulder.
“I don’t believe it.”
“Would you have believed the stories of the bloodbreeders or stories of your winged child, if you had not first seen them with your own eyes?” Cates asked raising one brow.
“No, I guess not.”
“Then this night you will also believe in the walking dead as well.”
“Maybe? I can tell you now though that I know witchcraft is something I have read about in the Bible, I do know I will never have dealings with the likes of it.”
“Unless you have no other choice,” Jacob smiled. “We must hurry, this night will not last forever.”
With that said we finished making the plans to take the doctor’s house, only this time we had a new problem, one that I wouldn’t believe until I did see it with my own eyes. I think that Brandon and Derek wanted to feel the same way that I did, but they seemed to lean more on Cates’ word than mine. That made me want to believe it just a little, but I was hoping even more that they were wrong. We took the small boat the rest of the way down the creek that soon opened up into a lake just as the map had shown. It was a lake known as, Moultrie.
Tammy and I were dropped off first, then the others. Jacob and Cates were to be last, parking the boat in a place that wouldn’t be discovered easily. We were to all make our way at least a fourth of a mile. The four that were dropped off on this side were to take a right, as the others made their way left, hoping that we all met in a close proximity, so that we could take the home together. If time became a problem, we were to make our way closer in until we found each other, staying clear of the main grounds of the doctor’s property.
“I can smell it already,” Tammy said.
“Yeah, me too,” I replied. “Tell me about them, Tammy.”
“The dead?”
“Yeah.”
“I heard him call them “zombies” once. He told Cortez that it was just a thing he played with, that it wasn’t anything more than that.”
“How does he do it though?”
“I haven’t got a clue. I had never seen it before him, but I had heard of it.”
“They sure never talked about things like this where I came from, not even a little.”
“We’re not exactly from that world anymore.”
“You got that right. Think we’ve gone far enough yet, because I can’t tell a thing in this growth?”
“Maybe, it’s hard to tell. Let’s keep going a little further.”
Once we started moving to our left the smell of death became much more pungent to my senses. I was about to step out into an opening when something or someone yanked me down hard. I would have yelled out but there was an enormous hand over my face. I looked over to see Jacob holding Tammy, shaking his head looking right at me. Cates had me, and I wanted loose. I turned in his grip and pulled away. I looked back at his now smiling face and he simply put a finger to his lips and shook his head slightly, then pointed to where I was fixing to go. I crawled on my hands and knees and peered through the long grass. I was taken aback at the sight of all the crosses in the opening behind the two story house. All the markers were charred except for the tips, and even the earth below was covered in a heap of dark ash.
“I gather that we’re here,” I spoke in a low voice.
“Indeed,” Cates whispered his reply.
“Where are the boys?”
“Checking the front. They will join us soon,” Jacob said as he pulled one of his silver blades.
“Can you tell how many we’re up against?” I asked looking back at Cates.
“Not many breeders, maybe ten, twelve at best, but the undead could be a much higher count.”
“How do we kill something like that if they’re already dead?” My concern was growing.
“Like us, we are sometime considered without life and are very much vulnerable to several things. They too have a weakness and cannot live without the use of their heads.”
“So take the head off and the dead become dead again?”
“Something like that.” He was answering as the other four came sneaking back in.
“There’s four breeders posted out front, but something isn’t right,” Sydney said sitting down by Jacob.
“Like what?” Tammy asked.
“It feels like there’s already been bloodshed, fresh bloodshed. I think someone’s already been here to see the doctor, could be why he wasn’t there to get the two girls,” Sydney whispered so low it was hard for my bloodbreeder ears to hear.
“Good thinking my young friend,” Cates replied, nodding his head as he looked back down at his sword.
“You knew?” I asked looking back at him.
“I knew there had been an incident, but one cannot tell the victor,” Cates paused, and then lifted one side of his mouth, what my pa would call, a ‘shit eatin’ grin’. “Not until one looks with his eyes, now can he?”
“Omar,” I said without even thinking.
“On that I must agree,” Jacob concurred. �
�His scent is on this land.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Derek asked fixing to stand up, but Jacob pulled him back down.
“Be still and have patience. You will see all soon enough.”
We sat quietly, waiting to catch sight of what Jacob and Cates wanted us to see. Sure enough, the back door opened and four wobbling creatures filed out. “Break up, move in pairs and remember…remove the head.” Jacob then slithered backwards into the darkness of the forest. The good doctor either ordered them out or he had someone making him do it. Tammy and I stuck together just as we had been told to, making our way deeper into the thick growth of the forest floor. I was beside myself after witnessing what I just had. The gray decayed corpses walking as if they lived, moving with shuffled steps and emotionless expressions. One had no arm as it swung the other to move out in the same direction that Tammy and I had just taken.
“You take that side of the path and I’ll take this one,” Tammy suggested, stepping behind a tree.
“What then?” I asked in a low whisper as I heard the debris stir with the movement of the dead that was slowly coming our way.
“We’ll cut off its head, what else?” Then she winked as she slid into the shadows.
I jumped behind the tree across from her, right as the things came into view. Its face was all but rotted off. Where it once had lips, I could see its teeth, giving it the expression of a permanent horrific smile. But that was easily erased with the gore that poured from its eye sockets, a thick yellow substance that fit perfectly with the smell that clung to the creature. It smelled like a cow that had been bloated for a month, like only death could. It stopped right before it got to the point of passing us, almost as if it knew where we were. I took a deep breath and stepped out.
“Looking for me?”
Its body jerked and started coming toward me. Tammy stepped out and grabbed her mouth. The thing swayed from side to side making a strange gurgling sound. I looked to my left just in time to see another one moving toward us; only this one’s legs were moving much faster. I kicked out and put the first one down on the ground, then ran at the other thinking I was going to do the same, when it turned with more speed than I had anticipated. I ended up sliding to the ground as the thing turned to reach for me. Fast, it was so much faster than the ones that I saw coming out of the house, but where had it come from? Why hadn’t we seen this one?
Bloodbreeders: Seeking Others Page 11
